Urine proteomics — prospects for future diagnostics

This brief overview of the potential diagnostic, prognostic and pathophysiological value of studies into the urine proteome describes hypothesis-driven investigations of individual proteins and proteome-wide search for urinary biomarkers of various diseases and their progression. It is intended to illustrate the recent progress in the area of urine proteomics and proselytize for the promise of this centuries-old technique of uroscopy, yet to reveal its secrets, using modern approaches

Ratio of 5,6,7,8-tetrahydrobiopterin to 7,8-dihydrobiopterin in endothelial cells determines glucose-elicited changes in NO vs. superoxide production by eNOS

5,6,7,8-Tetrahydrobiopterin (BH4) is an essential cofactor of nitric oxide synthases (NOSs). Oxidation of BH4, in the setting of diabetes and other chronic vasoinflammatory conditions, can cause cofactor insufficiency and uncoupling of endothelial NOS (eNOS), manifest by a switch from nitric oxide (NO) to superoxide production. Here we tested the hypothesis that eNOS uncoupling is not simply a consequence of BH4 insufficiency, but rather results from a diminished ratio of BH4 vs. its catalytically incompetent oxidation product, 7,8-dihydrobiopterin (BH2). In support of this hypothesis, [3H]BH4 binding studies revealed that BH4 and BH2 bind eNOS with equal affinity (Kd ≈ 80 nM) and BH2 can rapidly and efficiently replace BH4 in preformed eNOS-BH4 complexes. Whereas the total biopterin pool of murine endothelial cells (ECs) was unaffected by 48-h exposure to diabetic glucose levels (30 mM), BH2 levels increased from undetectable to 40% of total biopterin. This BH2 accumulation was associated with diminished calcium ionophore-evoked NO activity and accelerated superoxide production. Since superoxide production was suppressed by NOS inhibitor treatment, eNOS was implicated as a principal superoxide source. Importantly, BH4 supplementation of ECs (in low and high glucose-containing media) revealed that calcium ionophore-evoked NO bioactivity correlates with intracellular BH4:BH2 and not absolute intracellular levels of BH4. Reciprocally, superoxide production was found to negatively correlate with intracellular BH4:BH2. Hyperglycemia-associated BH4 oxidation and NO insufficiency was recapitulated in vivo, in the Zucker diabetic fatty rat model of type 2 diabetes. Together, these findings implicate diminished intracellular BH4:BH2, rather than BH4 depletion per se, as the molecular trigger for NO insufficiency in diabetes

Uric acid heralds ischemic tissue injury to mobilize endothelial progenitor cells

Understanding the nature of endogenous mechanisms for mobilization of stem/progenitor cells is predicated on the identification of injury-induced substances that are released from a damaged organ and capable of producing a distant effect. Although different substances that mobilize endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) have been proposed, their potential to signal injury and afford postischemic renoprotection and repair remains obscure. Uric acid (UA) is consistently overproduced by ischemic tissues and has been shown to exert immunomodulatory functions. It was hypothesized that UA and/or its precursors might serve as injury signals that are capable of mobilizing EPCs in acute renal ischemia. Indeed, FVB/NJ mice that were subjected to acute renal ischemia showed a transient surge in UA level in the peripheral blood. Single-dose treatment with UA, as well as acute hyperuricemia induced by the inhibition of uricase, caused a robust mobilization of EPCs, whereas administration of adenosine or inosine seemed to lack this effect. Moreover, pretreatment of mice with a single dose of UA afforded significant renoprotection against ischemic injury. In animals with chronic hyperuricemia (induced by continuous 2-wk treatment with a uricase inhibitor oxonic acid), EPC mobilization was blunted and renoprotective effects were absent. In conclusion, acute elevation of UA acts as "physiologic," fast-acting endogenous mediator of EPC mobilization and renoprotection, consistent with its novel function in pharmacologic preconditioning. Both of these actions are lacking in mice with chronic hyperuricemia. In summary, a transient surge in UA concentration may serve as a universal herald of tissue injury to accelerate the recruitment of EPCs