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Di Capua-Sacoto C, Sanchez-Llopis A, O’Connor E, Martinez A, Ruiz-Cerdá JL. Study of the apoptotic effect of urine as a diagnostic biomarker in patients with interstitial cystitis. Actas Urol Esp. 2016 May 9. pii: S0210-4806(16)30016-X. doi: 10.1016/j.acuro.2016.03.010. [Epub ahead of print]
In this study, investigators looked at whether the urine of patients with interstitial cystitis (IC) has a pronounced apoptotic effect (i.e., ability to induce cell death); if so, that might suggest that urine could be used to help diagnose the disorder. To evaluate this hypothesis, they exposed cell cultures to urine collected from 57 IC patients and 50 healthy patients. They used a technique called flow cytometry to detect apoptosis. The testing revealed that the average apoptosis values were significantly higher in the cell cultures exposed to urine from IC patients. Using this information, they were able to find an apoptosis level at which this urine test could potentially be used in a practical manner. The test was not particularly sensitive, detecting only about 40% of confirmed IC cases, but when it was positive, it was right 96% of the time. That suggests such a test could potentially be used to confirm a diagnosis of IC obtained by other means.