title: Serum biomarkers in elderly asthma.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Asthma is usually misdiagnosed and under-treated in the elderly population, resulting in complications and increased severity to the patient. In this review, we describe some of the most important serum markers of asthma studied so far, reporting their outcomes and possible prediction of asthma in the elderly population.
  
  
  METHODS
  The PubMed electronic database was used to search for promising serum biomarkers of asthma studied in original articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 2000 to January 2013.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 13 relevant serum biomarkers were selected, including IgE, CRP, high sensitive CRP, IL-6, IL-8, IL-17, TNF-α, neopterin, serum amyloid A, eosinophil cationic protein, leukolysin, YKL-40 and soluble CD86.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Although the major focus of treatment and research has been on allergic asthma, several forms of the disease are recognized, such as neutrophilic asthma, which is characteristic of older patients. Different phenotypes imply different treatments and so it becomes important to correctly determine which type of asthma the patient is suffering from. Serum markers capable of supporting a diagnosis of asthma are needed in order to counter mistreatment and misdiagnosis with other obstructive airways disease (OAD) in elderly patients. As convenient as serum markers may seem to be, a marker capable of accurately identifying asthma with sufficient specificity is yet to be found.
authors: CICS-UBI, Health Sciences Research Centre, University of Beira Interior , Covilhã , Portugal and.
authors: João
authors: J
authors: Rufo
authors: Luís
authors: L
authors: Taborda-Barata
authors: Olga
authors: O
authors: Lourenço
mesh_terms: D054392:Adipokines / Q000097:blood; D000368:Aged; D001249:Asthma / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood*; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D007073:Immunoglobulin E / Q000097:blood; D037102:Lectins / Q000097:blood; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated / Q000097:blood; D019798:Neopterin / Q000097:blood
chemical_list: D054392:Adipokines; D015415:Biomarkers; D001798:Blood Proteins; C084533:CHI3L1 protein, human; D000071451:Chitinase-3-Like Protein 1; D016207:Cytokines; D058851:GPI-Linked Proteins; D037102:Lectins; D007073:Immunoglobulin E; D019798:Neopterin; D053504:Matrix Metalloproteinases, Membrane-Associated; C403928:matrix metalloproteinase 25