The potential of urinary metabolites for diagnosing multiple sclerosis

Authors

• Teklab Gebregiworgis, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Chandirasegara Massilamany, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Arunakumar Gangaplara, University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• Sivasubramani Thulasingam, University of Nebraska - Lincoln
• Venkata Kolli, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Mark T. Werth, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln
• Eric D. Dodds, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• David Steffen, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow
• Jay Reddy, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
• Robert Powers, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2013

Citation

ACS Chem Biol. 2013 April 19; 8(4): 684–690. doi:10.1021/cb300673e.

Comments

© 2013 American Chemical Society. Used by permission.

Abstract

A definitive diagnostic test for multiple sclerosis (MS) does not exist; instead physicians use a combination of medical history, magnetic resonance imaging, and cerebrospinal fluid analysis (CSF). Significant effort has been employed to identify biomarkers from CSF to facilitate MS diagnosis; however none of the proposed biomarkers have been successful to date. Urine is a proven source of metabolite biomarkers and has the potential to be a rapid, non-invasive, inexpensive, and efficient diagnostic tool for various human diseases. Nevertheless, urinary metabolites have not been extensively explored as a source of biomarkers for MS. Instead, we demonstrate that urinary metabolites have significant promise for monitoring disease-progression, and response to treatment in MS patients. NMR analysis of urine permitted the identification of metabolites that differentiate experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE)-mice (prototypic disease model for MS) from healthy and MS drug-treated EAE mice.