title: Improved prognostic diagnosis of systemic lupus erythematosus in an early stage of disease by a combination of different predictive biomarkers identified by proteome analysis.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Since the original characterizations of the pathological features defining glomerulonephritis in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were reported, numerous studies have linked the development of pathology to the abnormal expression of protein in urine. The determination of proteinuria is important and necessary; however, this alone is not predictive enough to confirm a suspected diagnosis, especially in an early state of disease when symptoms are not yet observed. Furthermore, several studies have already highlighted the pitfalls of proteinuria both as a clinical prognostic marker and as a factor predicting the progressive loss of renal function. Therefore, the identification of more accurate and predictive biomarkers is urgently needed. To address this, comparative urinary and kidney profiling was performed in the MRL-lpr/lpr mouse as a model of lupus tubulointerstitial nephritis and lupus glomerulonephritis corresponding to SLE in humans.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Tamm-Horsfall glycoprotein (THG; uromodulin) and beta2-microglubulin (β2M) were identified as immune process-related molecules in the urine and kidney of the MRL-lpr/lpr mouse model. Furthermore, we show that the combinatory expression profile of THG and β2M as biomarkers, normalized by the proteinuria level, is more predictive than proteinuria determination alone. Data were confirmed by comparative urinary profiling of SLE in mice by Western blot and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on our results, we are able to diagnose SLE in the MRL-lpr/lpr mouse in a very early state of disease, when the proteinuria level alone is not able to confirm a suspected diagnosis. The pre-validation of our urinary biomarkers is associated with clinical outcomes of glomerulonephritis in humans and merits additional investigation. Further conformations of our predictive biomarkers in the urine of SLE patients in the course of a clinical study are still ongoing.
authors.affiliation: University of Vienna, Universitätszentrum II, Althanstrasse 14, Vienna 1090, Austria.
authors.forename: Maximilian
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boenisch
authors.affiliation: University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hurst
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna 1090, Austria.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Huber
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna 1090, Austria.
authors.forename: Jadranka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Koehn
authors.affiliation: Medical University of Vienna, Waehringer Guertel 18-20, Vienna 1090, Austria.
authors.forename: Kurt
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Krapfenbauer