Exploring Urinary Proteomics and Peptidomics Biomarkers for the Diagnosis of Mekong Schistosomiasis

Schistosomiasis caused by Schistosoma mekongi is one of the causative agents of human blood fluke infection in the lower Mekong River. Traditionally, the detection of egg morphology in stool samples has served as the prevailing method for diagnosing Schistosoma infection. Nonetheless, this approach exhibits low sensitivity, particularly in early infection detection. Urine has been extensively studied as a noninvasive clinical sample for diagnosing infectious diseases. Despite this, urine proteomic analysis of S. mekongi infection has been less investigated. This study aimed to characterize proteins and peptides present in mouse urine infected with S. mekongi both before infection and at intervals of 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks post-infection using mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Proteomics analysis revealed 13 up- and only one down-regulated mouse protein consistently found across all time points. Additionally, two S. mekongi uncharacterized proteins were detected throughout the infection period. Using a peptidomics approach, we consistently identified two peptide sequences corresponding to S. mekongi collagen alpha-1(V) in mouse urine across all time points. These findings highlight the potential of these unique proteins, particularly the S. mekongi uncharacterized proteins and collagen alpha-1(V), as potential biomarkers for early detection of S. mekongi infection. Such insights could significantly advance diagnostic strategies for human Mekong schistosomiasis.