Without homeostasis mechanisms, urine accumulates early changes in
biomarkers and can be a better and earlier
biomarker source than blood, especially for
chronic diseases. This study tests whether early changes can be detected in a rat model of
chronic pancreatitis induced by
intraperitoneal injection of
diethyldithiocarbamate. Urinary
proteins from three rats were profiled by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Compared with before injection, fifty differential
proteins that had human orthologs were significantly changed in the
chronic pancreatitis rats. At week 2, fifteen differential
proteins were identified when no obvious pathological changes had yet appeared. Among them, twelve
proteins were altered at the other two time points, five had previously been associated with
chronic pancreatitis. Inflammatory
cytokines infiltration, acinar disruption and
fibrosis were detected at week 3 and week 4, at which points fourteen identified differential
proteins had been reported to be differentially expressed in the serum or pancreatic tissue of
chronic pancreatitis patients and other animal model studies. These include
proteins that are significant in
acute-phase response (FETUA, F2, FINC and REG3G), extracellular matrix organization (COMP, FINC) and tissue remodeling (CSPG4, GAS6). REG3G has been described abnormally expressed in several human
digestive system diseases such as
chronic pancreatitis.
SIGNIFICANCE: