Addendum to: Noninvasive Test of Bladder Epithelium in Interstitial Cystitis

- ~ .~,&..`fl~.LS1'StJJi1S.J'!.JJVJ. I Our long-term goal is to develop better treatments for interstitial cystitis (IC). IC has several proposed causes, but the major theory is that the IC bladder epithelium is deficient. Treatments such as heparin and pentosanpolysulfate (PPS, Elmiron) are thought to improve the epithelium, but in many cases they fail to relieve the patient's symptoms. One possible reason for failure is that the bladder was not exposed to the drug for a long enough time, or a high enough concentration, to improve the epithelium. Another possibility is that these drugs do not really restore the epithelium. The published literature has very little direct research on how these drugs affect the IC epithelium. Keay et a!. previously reported that IC epithelial cells grown in culture have abnormal levels of several proteins. Our first aim will be to test whether we find the same differences in an independent laboratory with different patient and control populations. If these differences are confirmed, the second aim will be to treat cultured IC cells with heparin and PPS, and test whether these drugs change the cells' protein expressions to or towards normal levels.