Urinary Proteomic Biomarkers of Trabecular Bone Volume Change during Army Basic Combat Training

Area of Science:

• Biochemistry
• Proteomics
• Bone Biology

Background:

• Bone microarchitecture undergoes adaptive changes in response to mechanical loading.
• Urinary proteomics offers a non-invasive window into systemic physiological changes.
• Understanding these changes can inform strategies for bone health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To refine a dMS-based urinary proteomic technique for enhanced sensitivity.
• To investigate the relationship between urinary proteome profiles and bone microarchitecture adaptations during boneCurrentImage training (BCT).
• To identify specific urinary proteins associated with bone remodeling.

Main Methods:

• An optimized dMS technique was employed to analyze urinary proteomes from 26 recruits before and after BCT.
• Recruits were stratified into High and Low improvement groups based on tibial trabecular bone volume fraction changes.
• Differential protein expression was statistically analyzed using mixed permutation ANOVA with adjustments for multiple comparisons.

Main Results:

• The optimized dMS technique identified 10,431 peptides from 1368 protein groups.
• Tibial bone volume fraction significantly increased in the High improvement group post-BCT.
• Seventy-four urinary proteins exhibited significant changes from pre- to post-BCT, with neutrophil-mediated immunity being a prominent biological process.

Conclusions:

• The dMS technique is capable of identifying over a thousand urinary proteins.
• At least 74 urinary proteins are responsive to BCT, indicating dynamic physiological adaptations.
• Differential expression of immune system-related proteins correlates with adaptive bone formation during BCT.