title: Metabolomics insights into pathophysiological mechanisms of interstitial cystitis.
abstract: Interstitial cystitis (IC), also known as painful bladder syndrome or bladder pain syndrome, is a chronic lower urinary tract syndrome characterized by pelvic pain, urinary urgency, and increased urinary frequency in the absence of bacterial infection or identifiable clinicopathology. IC can lead to long-term adverse effects on the patient's quality of life. Therefore, early diagnosis and better understanding of the mechanisms underlying IC are needed. Metabolomic studies of biofluids have become a powerful method for assessing disease mechanisms and biomarker discovery, which potentially address these important clinical needs. However, limited intensive metabolic profiles have been elucidated in IC. The article is a short review on metabolomic analyses that provide a unique fingerprint of IC with a focus on its use in determining a potential diagnostic biomarker associated with symptoms, a response predictor of therapy, and a prognostic marker.
authors.affiliation: West Coast Metabolomics Center, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, USA. ; King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Fiehn
authors.affiliation: Departments of Surgery and Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ; Department of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. ; The Urological Diseases Research Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Jayoung
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
keywords: Biological markers; Interstitial cystitis; Magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Mass spectrometry; Metabolomics