AM was correlated with plasma APAP concentrations using the Pearson correlation (r) test in patients with an APAPintoxication, but without elevated plasma ALT values (B). The open data point represents the masterpool control urine sample. ALT: alanine aminotransferase; APAP acetaminophen; CA3: carbonic anhydrase 3; CaM: calmodulin; SOD1: superoxide dismutase 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049524.gproteomic profiling but this could not be confirmed using Western blotting with a specific antibody for the whole protein. However, CA3 as well as SOD1 and CaM were present in human urine samples after APAP intoxication, and are, therefore, proposed as potential Title Loaded From File urinary biomarkers for APAP-induced liver injury. Urinary CaM concentration was increased in human APAP intoxications and correlated well with plasma APAP concentration, whereas plasma ALT was not increased. This suggests that CaM might be an early marker compared to plasma ALT. Urinary CaM concentration was also elevated in two cases of human DILI caused by drugs other than APAP, indicating that CaM is not specific to APAP-induced liver injury, but rather to acute hepatocellular injury. High doses of APAP caused liver damage as indicated by an increase in plasma ALT and centrilobular hepatic necrosis. Despite the use of inbred mice, our data indicate that the animals showed a differential response to APAP. This is most likely caused by a variation in glutathione stores in individual mice, since our mice were not fasted before APAP administration [21]. The variation in hepatotoxic response allowed us to correlate urinary protein levels to plasma ALT, a conventional biomarker of liver injury.A major advantage of our experimental design was that we could profile proteins in urine collected in a controlled animal study. Urine samples from patients are Title Loaded From File difficult to profile in search for biomarkers, because they vary in many features. For example, nutritional status, disease condition, and/or use of other drugs may affect the urinary proteome. Using a translational approach, we were able to identify potential biomarkers for APAP-induced liver injury in mice and confirm the presence of these proteins in human urine samples after APAP intoxication and DILI caused by other drugs. In mice, urine was collected during 24 h after APAP administration, and plasma and liver tissue samples at 24 h after exposure. We measured urine at one time point after APAP administration, but still observed a strong association between plasma ALT values and both SOD1 and CaM levels in urine samples. Yet, we could not assess if these 1407003 potential biomarkers are excreted in urine early after the onset of injury. Nevertheless, SOD1 has previously been reported to appear in rat urine as early as 12 h after treatment with CCl4, another known hepatotoxic chemical [22]. A disadvantage of urine collection during 24 h could be that potentially interesting proteins are difficult to detect because of dilution, particularly those excreted shortly after theUrinary Biomarkers of Acetaminophen Hepatotoxicityonset of injury. In addition, some proteins may be unstable in urine and only fragments rather than intact proteins can be detected. This has likely occurred for CA3 in the present study. Obviously, the kidney has a major influence on urine content and approximately 70 of the proteins in urine originate from this organ [23]. Since most proteins identified in this study are not liver-specific, we investigated whether potential kidne.AM was correlated with plasma APAP concentrations using the Pearson correlation (r) test in patients with an APAPintoxication, but without elevated plasma ALT values (B). The open data point represents the masterpool control urine sample. ALT: alanine aminotransferase; APAP acetaminophen; CA3: carbonic anhydrase 3; CaM: calmodulin; SOD1: superoxide dismutase 1. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049524.gproteomic profiling but this could not be confirmed using Western blotting with a specific antibody for the whole protein. However, CA3 as well as SOD1 and CaM were present in human urine samples after APAP intoxication, and are, therefore, proposed as potential urinary biomarkers for APAP-induced liver injury. Urinary CaM concentration was increased in human APAP intoxications and correlated well with plasma APAP concentration, whereas plasma ALT was not increased. This suggests that CaM might be an early marker compared to plasma ALT. Urinary CaM concentration was also elevated in two cases of human DILI caused by drugs other than APAP, indicating that CaM is not specific to APAP-induced liver injury, but rather to acute hepatocellular injury. High doses of APAP caused liver damage as indicated by an increase in plasma ALT and centrilobular hepatic necrosis. Despite the use of inbred mice, our data indicate that the animals showed a differential response to APAP. This is most likely caused by a variation in glutathione stores in individual mice, since our mice were not fasted before APAP administration [21]. The variation in hepatotoxic response allowed us to correlate urinary protein levels to plasma ALT, a conventional biomarker of liver injury.A major advantage of our experimental design was that we could profile proteins in urine collected in a controlled animal study. Urine samples from patients are difficult to profile in search for biomarkers, because they vary in many features. For example, nutritional status, disease condition, and/or use of other drugs may affect the urinary proteome. Using a translational approach, we were able to identify potential biomarkers for APAP-induced liver injury in mice and confirm the presence of these proteins in human urine samples after APAP intoxication and DILI caused by other drugs. In mice, urine was collected during 24 h after APAP administration, and plasma and liver tissue samples at 24 h after exposure. We measured urine at one time point after APAP administration, but still observed a strong association between plasma ALT values and both SOD1 and CaM levels in urine samples. Yet, we could not assess if these 1407003 potential biomarkers are excreted in urine early after the onset of injury. Nevertheless, SOD1 has previously been reported to appear in rat urine as early as 12 h after treatment with CCl4, another known hepatotoxic chemical [22]. A disadvantage of urine collection during 24 h could be that potentially interesting proteins are difficult to detect because of dilution, particularly those excreted shortly after theUrinary Biomarkers of Acetaminophen Hepatotoxicityonset of injury. In addition, some proteins may be unstable in urine and only fragments rather than intact proteins can be detected. This has likely occurred for CA3 in the present study. Obviously, the kidney has a major influence on urine content and approximately 70 of the proteins in urine originate from this organ [23]. Since most proteins identified in this study are not liver-specific, we investigated whether potential kidne.