Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Nov 30;11(12):2238.
doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11122238.

Biomarkers in Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome with and without Hunner Lesion: A Review and Future Perspectives

Yoshiyuki Akiyama  1
Affiliations
Review

Biomarkers in Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome with and without Hunner Lesion: A Review and Future Perspectives

Yoshiyuki Akiyama. Diagnostics (Basel). .

Abstract

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) is a debilitating urinary bladder condition that presents with a wide variety of clinical phenotypes. It is commonly characterized by persistent pelvic pain and lower urinary tract symptoms, such as urinary frequency and urgency. Current clinicopathological and genomic evidence has indicated that IC/BPS with Hunner lesions is a clinically relevant distinct subtype with proven bladder pathology of subepithelial chronic inflammatory changes that are characterized by enhanced local immune responses and epithelial denudation. However, other forms of IC/BPS lacking Hunner lesions are a symptom syndrome complex of non-inflammatory conditions with little evidence of bladder etiology, characterized by aberrant neural activity in neurotransmission systems which leads to central nervous sensitization with potential involvement of urothelial malfunction, or clinical presentation of somatic and/or psychological symptoms beyond the bladder. Given such distinct potential pathophysiology between IC/BPS subtypes, disease biomarkers of IC/BPS should be provided separately for subtypes with and without Hunner lesions. Tailored approaches that target characteristic immunological inflammatory processes and epithelial denudation for IC/BPS with Hunner lesions, or the sensitized/altered nervous system, urothelial malfunction, association with other functional somatic syndromes, and psychosocial problems for IC/BPS without Hunner lesions, are essential to identify optimal and reliable disease-specific IC/BPS biomarkers.

Keywords: IC/BPS; PBS; biomarker; bladder pain syndrome; interstitial cystitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author has no relevant financial interests to disclose.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Homma Y., Akiyama Y., Tomoe H., Furuta A., Ueda T., Maeda D., Lin A.T., Kuo H.C., Lee M.H., Oh S.J., et al. Clinical guidelines for interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. Int. J. Urol. 2020;27:578–589. doi: 10.1111/iju.14234. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Hanno P.M., Erickson D., Moldwin R., Faraday M.M. Diagnosis and treatment of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: AUA guideline amendment. J. Urol. 2015;193:1545–1553. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2015.01.086. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Van de Merwe J.P., Nordling J., Bouchelouche P., Bouchelouche K., Cervigni M., Daha L.K., Elneil S., Fall M., Hohlbrugger G., Irwin P., et al. Diagnostic criteria, classification, and nomenclature for painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis: An ESSIC proposal. Eur. Urol. 2008;53:60–67. doi: 10.1016/j.eururo.2007.09.019. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akiyama Y., Hanno P. Phenotyping of interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome. Int. J. Urol. 2019;26((Suppl. S1)):17–19. doi: 10.1111/iju.13969. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Akiyama Y., Luo Y., Hanno P.M., Maeda D., Homma Y. Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome: The evolving landscape, animal models and future perspectives. Int. J. Urol. 2020;27:491–503. doi: 10.1111/iju.14229. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources