Neuroinflammatory gene expression analysis reveals potential novel mediators and treatment targets in interstitial cystitis with Hunner lesions

We sought to study differential neuroinflammatory gene expression in men with interstitial cystitis (IC) with Hunner lesions compared with asymptomatic controls using NanoString, which uses barcoded probes to measure hundreds of genes. IC is a heterogenous condition lacking reliable biomarkers, and a subset of patients exhibits Hunner lesions, implicating the bladder as an inflammatory pain generator.

Blood, urine, and bladder biopsies were collected from 6 men with IC and Hunner lesions. 7 asymptomatic controls had blood and urine collected and 2 benign bladder biopsies were obtained from our tissue bank. RNA was isolated and analyzed with NanoString Human Neuroinflammation panel. Gene expression was considered significant if there was a >1.5-fold change and adjusted P value <0.05 compared with controls.

Mean patient age was 61.5 years with 8 years median symptom duration. In bladder tissue, while many cytokine and chemokine genes had higher expression as expected (e.g., TNF, CXCL10), other significant genes included TRPA1 (1098-fold increased, expressed in pain sensing neurons) and TNFRSF17 (735-fold, B-cell related). In urine, there was 114-fold increase in S1PR4, which mediates pain via TRP-dependent pathways. A patient on cyclosporine had lower inflammatory gene expression levels relative to other IC patients, but no difference in TRPA1.

Men with IC and Hunner lesions have a diverse set of neuroinflammatory genes with differential expression compared to controls. We identified genes linked to neuropathic pain through the TRP pathway and this expression was not reduced by cyclosporine. These findings open a new direction for biomarker and therapeutic discovery.