Urine is an important source of biomarkers. A single proteomics assay can identify hundreds of differentially expressed proteins between disease and control samples; however, the ability to select biomarker candidates with the most promise for further validation study remains difficult. A bioinformatics tool that allows accurate and convenient comparison of all of the existing related studies can markedly aid the development of this area. In this study, we constructed the Urinary Protein Biomarker (UPB) database to collect existing studies of urinary protein biomarkers from published literature. To ensure the quality of data collection, all literature was manually curated. The website (http://122.70.220.102/biomarker) allows users to browse the database by disease categories and search by protein IDs in bulk. Researchers can easily determine whether a biomarker candidate has already been identified by another group for the same disease or for other diseases, which allows for the confidence and disease specificity of their biomarker candidate to be evaluated. Additionally, the pathophysiological processes of the diseases can be studied using our database with the hypothesis that diseases that share biomarkers may have the same pathophysiological processes. Because of the natural relationship between urinary proteins and the urinary system, this database may be especially suitable for studying the pathogenesis of urological diseases. Currently, the database contains 553 and 275 records compiled from 174 and 31 publications of human and animal studies, respectively. We found that biomarkers identified by different proteomic methods had a poor overlap with each other. The differences between sample preparation and separation methods, mass spectrometers, and data analysis algorithms may be influencing factors. Biomarkers identified from animal models also overlapped poorly with those from human samples, but the overlap rate was not lower than that of human proteomics studies. Therefore, it is not clear how well the animal models mimic human diseases. Molecular & Cellular

Schistosoma japonicum is stubbornly persistent in China and the Philippines. Fast and accurate diagnostic tools are required to monitor effective control measures against schistosomiasis japonica. Promising antigen candidates for the serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis japonica have generally been identified from the Chinese strain of S. japonicum. However, the Chinese (SjC) and Philippine (SjP) strains of S. japonicum express a number of clear phenotypic differences, including aspects of host immune responses. This feature thereby emphasized the requirement to determine whether antigens identified as having diagnostic value for SjC infection are also suitable for the diagnosis of SjP infection. In the current study, 10 antigens were selected for comparison of diagnostic performance of the SjP infection using ELISA. On testing of sera from 180 subjects in the Philippines, SjSAP4 exhibited the best diagnostic performance with 94.03% sensitivity and 98.33% specificity using an optimized serum dilution. In another large scale testing with 412 serum samples, a combination (SjSAP4 + Sj23-LHD (large hydrophilic domain)) provided the best diagnostic outcome with 87.04% sensitivity and 96.67% specificity. This combination could be used in future for serological diagnosis of schistosomiasis in the Philippines, thereby representing an important component for monitoring integrated control measures.

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BackgroundChronic infection with Schistosoma japonicum or S. mansoni results in hepatic fibrosis of the human host. Staging fibrosis is crucial for the prognosis and to determine the rapid need of treatment in patients with schistosomiasis.MethodsTo establish whether there is a correlation between circulating microRNA (miRNA) level and fibrosis progression in schistosomiasis, ten miRNAs were selected to assess their potential in grading schistosomiasis liver fibrosis. This was done firstly in two mouse strains (C57BL/6 and BALB/c) to determine the temporal expression profiles in serum over the course of S. japonicum infection, and then within a cohort of 163 schistosomiasis japonica patients with different grades of liver fibrosis.FindingFour miRNAs (miR-150-5p, let-7a-5p, let-7d-5p and miR-146a-5p) were able to distinguish patients with mild versus severe fibrosis. The level of serum miR-150-5p showed the most promising potential for grading hepatic fibrosis in schistosomiasis. The diagnostic performance of miR-150-5p in discriminating mild from severe fibrosis is comparable with that of the ELF test and serum HA level. In addition, the serum levels of the four miRNAs rebounded in infected C57BL/6 mice, after 6 months post treatment, following the regression of liver fibrosis, thereby providing further support for the utility of these miRNAs in grading schistosomal hepatic fibrosis.Interpretation.Circulating miRNAs can be a supplementary tool for assessing hepatic fibrosis in human schistosomiasis.Fund (NHMRC) of Australia (APP1102926, APP1037304 and APP1098244).