Serum proteomic pattern in female stress urinary incontinence

The pathophysiology of Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI) is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to identify the serum proteomic profile in patients with SUI and to replicate findings from a preceding study in which a significant difference in the urinary proteome was identified. Serum samples were collected from 38 patients (19 SUI; 19 matched, continent controls). Sample preparation included serum albumin depletion, in-solution enzymatic digestion of proteins applying a combination of Gluc-C and trypsin and peptide separation using nano High Performance Liquid Chromatography. Label-free quantitation of peptides and proteins was performed after triplicate measurements using quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Peptide identification was achieved by searching the Human SwissProt Database using Mascot and X!Tandem. Main outcome measure was the relative abundance of each detected protein in serum.