Genetic background of urinary incontinence - state-of-the-art and perspectives

The paper presents an overview of the current studies attempting to determine the genetic background of urinary incontinence (UI) problems. The overview referred to the adaptations of biomedical literature from Medline, life science journals, and online books were searched from the earliest date possible to March 2015. Genetic variability studies (mostly with the use of single nucleotide polymorphism) in the context of UI are discussed. The authors indicate the variability of polymorphic forms of proteins, whose modified function may be related to the observed phenotypic symptoms: UI. The paper includes a discussion of the varied level of gene expression and the issue of defective process of the development of the urinary system in the context of UI disorders. The literature does not present any general, unequivocal description of the relationship between the genetic background and phenotype as UI. It is suggested that the methods of integration of data from various techniques (e.g. high throughputs) in reference to social, demographic, and other data may be the way of the approach used for the effective description of the relationship between genetic background and observed UI.