IMAC Fractionation in Combination with LC–MS Reveals H2B and NIF‑1 Peptides As Potential Bladder Cancer Biomarkers

Improvement in bladder cancer (BC) management requires more effective diagnosis and prognosis of disease recurrence and progression. Urinary biomarkers attract special interest because of the noninvasive means of urine collection. Proteomic analysis of urine entails the adoption of a fractionation methodology to reduce sample complexity. In this study, we applied immobilized metal affinity chromatography in combination with high-resolution LC–MS/MS for the discovery of native urinary peptides potentially associated with BC aggressiveness. This approach was employed toward urine samples from patients with invasive BC, noninvasive BC, and benign urogenital diseases. A total of 1845 peptides were identified, corresponding to a total of 638 precursor proteins. Specific enrichment for proteins involved in nucleosome assembly and for zinc-finger transcription factors was observed. The differential expression of two candidate biomarkers, histone H2B and NIF-1 (zinc finger 335) in BC, was verified in independent sets of urine samples by ELISA and by immunohistochemical analysis of BC tissue. The results collectively support changes in the expression of both of these proteins with tumor progression, suggesting their potential role as markers for discriminating BC stages. In addition, the data indicate a possible involvement of NIF-1 in BC progression, likely as a suppressor and through interactions with Sox9 and HoxA1