Author ORCID Identifier

0009-0006-2307-0708

Date of Award

8-31-2026

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Biological Science (MBioSci)

Department

Biology

First Advisor

Jill A Macoska

Second Advisor

Changmeng Cai

Third Advisor

Shailja Pathania

Abstract

Lower urinary tract dysfunction (LUTD) is a progressive disorder that affects millions of men over the age of 50 years old. LUTD manifests as urgency, nocturia, urinary frequency, weak urinary stream, and incomplete bladder emptying (Egan, 2016). The current treatment for LUTD doesn’t always yield the desired results due to several issues. In this thesis, we aim to address the lack of suitable tools for detecting prostatic collagenization and to assess whether urine could serve as a substrate for detecting pro-fibrotic proteins associated with moderate-to-high AUASI scores. We used whole urine from 2 different cohorts, the Boston and the LURN cohort of men with or without severe LUTS, and we utilized the Sircol soluble collagen protein assay to determine their collagen levels. The results showed that men with moderate-to-severe LUTS had significantly higher urinary soluble collagen levels than men with no or mild LUTS. These results support the theory that fibrotic changes in the prostate contribute to the development of LUTS and suggest that measuring urinary collagen could be a non-invasive way to identify prostatic fibrosis.

Comments

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