Using one-to-many urine proteome comparisons to provide clues for fever of unknown origin

Abstract

Objective

To provide diagnostic evidence and clues for patients with fever of unknown origin (FUO) through urine proteomics analysis.

Methods

Urine samples of FUO were one–to–many analysed by using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry(LC–MS/MS) to identify differential proteins and related biological pathways. One–to–many analysis means a comparative analysis of one sample to many controls.

Results

We observed biological pathways related to fever, such as LXR/RXR activation, FXR/RXR activation and acute phase response signaling, etc., which indicates that urine can obviously distinguish disease from health status. In addition, we found that the results of each sample were different, which highlight the necessity of one–to–many analysis.

Conclusions

The combined method of urine proteomics and one–to–many analysis can provide clues for FUO, and might also be applied to the exploration of any unknown disease. In addition to providing information on diagnostic markers of diseases, urine may also provide mechanisms of diseases and related therapeutic targets.