'Omics' approaches to understanding interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome/bladder pain syndrome

Abstract

Recent efforts in the generation of large genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other types of 'omics' data sets have provided an unprecedentedly detailed view of certain diseases, however to date most of this literature has been focused on malignancy and other lethal pathological conditions. Very little intensive work on global profiles has been performed to understand the molecular mechanism of interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome/bladder pain syndrome (IC/PBS/BPS), a chronic lower urinary tract disorder characterized by pelvic pain, urinary urgency and frequency, which can lead to long lasting adverse effects on quality of life. A lack of understanding of molecular mechanism has been a challenge and dilemma for diagnosis and treatment, and has also led to a delay in basic and translational research focused on biomarker and drug discovery, clinical therapy, and preventive strategies against IC/PBS/BPS. This review describes the current state of 'omics' studies and available data sets relevant to IC/PBS/BPS, and presents opportunities for new research directed at understanding the pathogenesis of this complex condition.

Keywords: Interstitial cystitis; Medical informatics; Omics; Physiopathology.

Fig. 1

Transcriptome profiles of interstitial cystitis. (A) Venn diagram depicts the overlap of differentially expressed genes between bladder tissues and urine or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). (B) Cellular processes enriched by commonly deregulated genes. Genes that are shaded with red or green color have large number of interactions with other genes in those enriched processes. (C) List of genes as biomarker candidates that have been detected in tissues, urine and serum. Red and green represent up- and down-regulation in bladder tissues and urine or PBMCs, compared to controls. 'o' means positivity of detection in human serum proteome [38,39].