Emerging studies of the urinary proteome: the end of the beginning?

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Urinary proteomics is a rapidly growing field, holding the promise of discovery of biomarkers of various disease processes and elucidation of pathophysiologic mechanisms of disease states. This may be true not only for renal disease but for diseases of other organs and systemic disorders.

RECENT FINDINGS: Recent advances in separation technologies and rapid, high-throughput, and accurate protein detection and identification now permit rigorous examination of complex biological fluids. This review sketches the progress achieved in recent years and the existing hurdles in describing a normal urinary proteome, its aberrations in pathological conditions, and the search for biomarkers of several renal and non-renal diseases.

SUMMARY: The first wave of urinary proteomic studies has now arrived and their results are summarized. Future lines of investigation are delineated.