title: Biomarkers in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This review examines the recent literature on molecular biomarkers of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Specific attention is dedicated to the recent studies that identified the genes associated with IPF and the peripheral blood biomarkers that predict outcome in IPF.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Multiple studies attempted to identify diagnostic and predictive biomarkers in IPF. Until recently, these studies were limited in size and lacked replication, but still when taken together provided convincing evidence that changes in blood proteins (KL-6, SP-A, MMP-7, CCL-18, among others) or cells (fibrocytes and T-cell subpopulations) are indicative of the disease presence and outcome. More recently, larger studies have identified gene polymorphisms associated with IPF, as well as protein markers and integrated clinical and molecular prediction rules that accurately predict outcome in patients with IPF.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The peripheral blood contains disease presence and outcome relevant information, and suggests distinct biologically defined outcome trajectories in patients with IPF. Although recently identified biomarkers should still be validated in multiple clinical contexts, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that collection of peripheral blood biomarkers needs to be incorporated in the design of drug studies and that some of these markers be clinically evaluated in lung transplant prioritization.
authors: Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine, Dorothy P. and Richard P. Simmons Center for Interstitial Lung Disease, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA.
authors: Yingze
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Naftali
authors: N
authors: Kaminski
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D054990:Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020783:Matrix Metalloproteinase 7 / Q000097:blood; D018396:Mucin-1 / Q000097:blood; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C111792:CCL18 protein, human; D019742:Chemokines, CC; C060192:MUC1 protein, human; D018396:Mucin-1; D037662:Pulmonary Surfactant-Associated Protein A; D020783:Matrix Metalloproteinase 7