A biomarker at its simplest is a biochemical feature or molecule that can be used to measure the progress of disease or the effects of treatment. With our advancing knowledge, and particularly with a move towards genetics-linked personalized medicine, interest in identifying and using biomarkers is at an all time high, particularly as they potentially represent non-invasive measures of disease for conditions where traditional diagnosis and prediction of prognosis can be very difficult. What is less clear however, is how this knowledge is being translated to provide true clinical value, and how much progress is needed in order to implement biomarkers as useful clinical measures.
This month in BMC Medicine, we launch a new, ongoing thematic series on clinical biomarkers, with a review article by Philipp Schuetz, Werner Albrich and Beat Mueller outlining the evidence for procalcitonin as a biomarker in infection and its utility and reliability in guiding antibiotic treatment decisions.
We hope that you will visit the series over the coming months to read the additional reviews and commentaries on the topic of, among others, biomarkers in acute lung injury, acute kidney injury and sepsis, that will be published. Further, we invite you to submit your high quality research in this area to add to this collection of thought-provoking and informative articles, in an area of clinical practice that is becoming increasingly important in quick, effective treatment of acute illness.
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