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.