Figure 4

Abundance of selected proteins in samples with evidence of salt precipitation in urine. UP samples beginning with nm_ (no microbes) did not show evidence of bacterial colonization, but the urine sediments had a visual appearance suggesting uric acid salt precipitates and were present in two CAC clusters. LG_21 (Lactobacillus) represented the absence of inflammation. The patient associated with sample GV_64 (G. vaginalis) was diagnosed with kidney stones. In addition to those proteins described in the legend of Figure 3, others are the complement component C3 (C3), ceruloplasmin (CP), plasminogen activator inhibitor-3 (PAI-3), AMBP (bikunin), hemoglobin δ-subunit (HBD) and immunoglobulin γ-chain (Ig gamma). All of these proteins are implicated in the acute phase response, which is typically initiated by tissue injury and pathogen invasion. The sample profiles show high variability of protein quantities, although distinct acute phase proteins were increased compared to the control LG_21 in some of the samples.