Urinary proteomics

Protein measurement in urine has been used for many years for the diagnosis and monitoring of renal disease. The pattern of urinary protein excretion can be used to identify the cause of the disease and to classify proteinuria. In recent years, proteomics has proven to be a powerful tool in investigation and clinical medicine. Proteomics employs a protein separation method and the identification of proteins using mass spectrometry. One of the objectives of clinical proteomics is the identification of biological markers of disease. To accomplish this, it is necessary to have a normal proteome of the medium in question, which in our case is urine. Comparison of the normal urinary proteome with the urinary proteome from patients with a defined disease can detect proteins expressed differentially from one another. The aim of this review is to present the situation of urinary proteomics, putting special emphasis on its application in the diagnosis of glomerular diseases, renal allograft rejection, urological cancers and urolithiasis.