Open AccessAptamer based proteomic pilot study reveals a urine signature indicative of pediatric urinary tract infections
Author(s) -
Liang Dong,
Joshua R. Watson,
Sha Cao,
Samuel Arregui,
Vijay Saxena,
John Ketz,
Abduselam K. Awol,
Daniel M. Cohen,
Jeffrey M. Caterino,
David S. Hains,
Andrew L. Schwaderer
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
plos one
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.99
H-Index - 332
ISSN - 1932-6203
DOI - 10.1371/journal.pone.0235328
Subject(s) - leukocyte esterase , pyuria , urine , urinary system , medicine , proteomics , proteinuria , urinalysis , biology , immunology , biochemistry , gene , kidney
Objective Current urinary tract infection (UTI) diagnostic strategies that rely on leukocyte esterase have limited accuracy. We performed an aptamer-based proteomics pilot study to identify urine protein levels that could differentiate a culture proven UTI from culture negative samples, regardless of pyuria status. Methods We analyzed urine from 16 children with UTIs, 8 children with culture negative pyuria and 8 children with negative urine culture and no pyuria. The urine levels of 1,310 proteins were quantified using the Somascan ™ platform and normalized to urine creatinine. Machine learning with support vector machine (SVM)-based feature selection was performed to determine the combination of urine biomarkers that optimized diagnostic accuracy. Results Eight candidate urine protein biomarkers met filtering criteria. B-cell lymphoma protein, C-X-C motif chemokine 6, C-X-C motif chemokine 13, cathepsin S, heat shock 70kDA protein 1A, mitogen activated protein kinase, protein E7 HPV18 and transgelin. AUCs ranged from 0.91 to 0.95. The best prediction was achieved by the SVMs with radial basis function kernel. Conclusions Biomarkers panel can be identified by the emerging technologies of aptamer-based proteomics and machine learning that offer the potential to increase UTI diagnostic accuracy, thereby limiting unneeded antibiotics.