Urine analysis enables cardiovascular risk assessment

11-13-2007: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. A vast amount of deaths and disabilities caused by CAD could be cut by an early diagnosis, enabling effective individual actions for preventing clinical events like acute myocardial infarction.

Researchers of mosaiques diagnostics, the British Heart Foundation (Glasgow, UK), and Baker Heart Research Institute (Melbourne, Australia) examined a total of 370 patients in an international blinded clinical study. The consortium established a diagnostic urine test distinguishing between presence and absence of CAD with sensitivity of 98% and specificity of 83%. Mosaiques' proprietary CE-MS technology (capillary electrophoresis coupled to mass spectrometry) enabled not only the successful identification of CAD patients, but also suggests the possibility of monitoring the effects of therapeutic interventions. This non invasive and precise diagnostic procedure provides tremendous benefits for patients with significantly increased risk of cardiovascular complications, such as patients with type II diabetes and the elderly in personalized medicine. According to the company, the technology already proved high advancement and impact on drug evaluation during clinical trials by a detailed assessment of drug effects on the vascular and - considering mosaiques' further diagnostics - renal architecture.

Original publication: "Urinary proteomic biomarkers in coronary artery disease."; Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 2007.