title: Immune biomarkers in the spectrum of childhood noncommunicable diseases.
abstract: A biomarker is an accurately and reproducibly quantifiable biological characteristic that provides an objective measure of health status or disease. Benefits of biomarkers include identification of therapeutic targets, monitoring of clinical interventions, and development of personalized (or precision) medicine. Challenges to the use of biomarkers include optimizing sample collection, processing and storage, validation, and often the need for sophisticated laboratory and bioinformatics approaches. Biomarkers offer better understanding of disease processes and should benefit the early detection, treatment, and management of multiple noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). This review will consider the utility of biomarkers in patients with allergic and other immune-mediated diseases in childhood. Typically, biomarkers are used currently to provide mechanistic insight or an objective measure of disease severity, with their future role in risk stratification/disease prediction speculative at best. There are many lessons to be learned from the biomarker strategies used for cancer in which biomarkers are in routine clinical use and industry-wide standardized approaches have been developed. Biomarker discovery and validation in children with disease lag behind those in adults; given the early onset and therefore potential lifelong effect of many NCDs, there should be more studies incorporating cohorts of children. Many pediatric biomarkers are at the discovery stage, with a long path to evaluation and clinical implementation. The ultimate challenge will be optimization of prevention strategies that can be implemented in children identified as being at risk of an NCD through the use of biomarkers.
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Molecular Diagnostics, Philipps University Marburg, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg GmbH Baldingerstr, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Chrysanthi
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Skevaki
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Department of Immunology/Microbiology Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
authors.forename: Jolice
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Van den Berg
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales.
authors.forename: Nicholas
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Utrecht Institute for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Division of Pharmacology, Beta Faculty, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Garssen
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Child Health Research Unit, Barwon Health, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vuillermin
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Division of Asthma and Allergy, University of Cape Town, and the Department of Pediatrics and Child Health, Red Cross Children's Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Department of Immunology/Microbiology Rush University Medical Center Chicago, Chicago, Ill.
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Landay
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Institute of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiochemistry, Molecular Diagnostics, Philipps University Marburg, University Hospital Giessen and Marburg GmbH Baldingerstr, Marburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Harald
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Renz
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Human Development and Health Academic Unit, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, and NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, Southampton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust and University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom.
authors.forename: Philip C
authors.initials: PC
authors.lastname: Calder
authors.affiliation: International Inflammation (in-FLAME) Network of the World Universities Network; Institute of Life Science, Swansea University Medical School, Swansea University, Swansea, Wales. Electronic address: c.a.thornton@swansea.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Catherine A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Thornton
mesh_terms: D001327:Autoimmune Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D015415:Biomarkers; D002648:Child; D000067576:Child Health; D006801:Humans; D006967:Hypersensitivity / Q000276:immunology; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000276:immunology; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: Biomarkers; blood; breath; children; inflammation; mass spectrometry; microRNA; noncommunicable diseases; urine