Urinary proteomics based on capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry in kidney disease

Urine is an excellent sample source in the proteomic study of diseases. It is available in large quantities, is relatively stable, is not contaminated by cells or lipids, and has shown to provide information not only on the organs in contact with the urinary tract but also of more remote organs and tissues. In addition to these qualities, it can be collected by untrained personnel. For these reasons, urinary proteomic studies have escalated in recent years with the aim of identifying biomarkers that could be use for diagnosis or to predict the outcome of renal pathologies. In this chapter, we present one of the analytical platforms that has been successfully used in a number of studies for the identification and validation of biomarkers in kidney diseases. This technique is capillary electrophoresis coupled online to an electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (CE-MS). This technology has proven to be highly reproducible, sensitive with a quick analysis time, important features when analytical platforms have to be used in a clinical setting.