Overview

Urinary metaproteomics of urine sediments can be used to characterize host-pathogen interactions and diagnose urinary tract infections and non-infectious inflammatory conditions of the urinary system. Urinary tract infections may be caused by one or multiple microbial species. The interplay of opportunistic pathogens of the urinary and vaginal tracts, commensal microbes at the urinary and vaginal tract meatus and the human host will be elucidated.

Despite the prevalence of asymptomatic bacteriuria and urinary tract infections, the course of bacterial colonization of the urinary tract and the molecular-physiological consequences of human host immune system reactions towards the microbial challenge and progression towards disease symptoms are not fully understood.

State-of-the-art metagenomics and metaproteomics analysis techniques now allow profiling the complexity of such interactions among the bacteria that colonize the urinary tract and those that cause disease symptoms, as well as the respective inflammatory and microbicidal responses of the human host in more depth. We collaborate with Shady Grove Adventist Hospital, Rockville, MD. The objectives are to understand host-pathogen interactions and to determine if the methods are of diagnostic value to provide an alternative to commonly used urine analysis and urine culture tests.

Rember Pieper

Karen Nelson

This digitally-colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicted large numbers of Gram-positive Enterococcus sp. bacteria, common in urinary tract infections.

Image: CDC/Janice Haney Carr