The promise and challenge of systems biology in translational medicine

Abnormalities in clinical parameters and routine laboratory tests are frequently detected at late stages of many diseases (too late to cure or to prevent life-threatening complications). Hence earlier diagnostic and prognostic markers are needed for decision making and improving therapeutic outcome. In the present issue of Clinical Science, Rudiger and co-workers report findings from a transcriptomic study, which revealed that changes in transcripts involved in amino-sugar metabolism, p53-dependent cell-cycle arrest, β-adrenergic signalling and intracellular calcium cycling in cardiac tissue of rats with early sepsis could discriminate survivors from non-survivors. These findings underscore the great potential of systems biology in translational medicine. However, further investigations should be done to make the benchside results more feasible for routine clinical practice.