Caveolins May Participate in IC/PBS pathology Nerd alert! Here’s an arcane study that my fellow IC nerds may find interesting! Caveolins are “integral membraine proteins” that are permanently embedded in the bladder wall (and cells throughout the body) that perform a variety of functions, including helping cells absorb various substances. Caveolae are little cave like pockets in the cell wall. In any case, this study suggests that IC patients may have more caveolin-1 protein expression… essentially more caveolins present in the bladder tissue. I wish I understood the ramifications of this… my best guess is that implies that a bladder wall high in caveolins could let more irritants pass through the cell membrane??? but that is entirely a guess. We’ll have to wait and see what future research shows but it is fascinating! – Jill Friday, 04 March 2011 Urological Research Institute of PLA, Southwest Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China. To determine whether caveolin-1 expression is associated with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) and to better understand the pathogenesis of BPS/IC. The study population was composed of 19 women with BPS/IC and 7 healthy women as controls. Midstream urine specimens were collected before cystoscopy and cold cup bladder biopsies were obtained from the trigone of the bladder. Caveolin-1 protein expression was determined by indirect immunofluorescence and Western blot analysis in cases and controls, using a rabbit polyclonal antibody against caveolin-1. ?(2) test and Student’s t test were used in the statistical analysis. A statistical difference of caveolin-1 protein expression was observed between BPS/IC and healthy controls (p < 0.05, ?(2) test). Western blot analysis showed that the mean relative integrated density value of caveolin-1 in (BPS/IC) patients was significantly higher than that in the control group (p < 0.001, Student’s t test). The results of our study demonstrate that there is a relationship between the raised levels of caveolin-1 expression and BPS/IC. This preliminary study may provide a basis for further investigation of the role of caveolin-1 in the pathogenesis of BPS/IC. Written by: Lin XC, Zhang QH, Zhou P, Zhou ZS, Lu GS. Are you the author? Reference: Urol Int. 2011 Feb 19. Epub ahead of print.