Pathophysiological roles and clinical importance of biomarkers in acute coronary syndrome
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Updated: May 13, 2026

Coronary Progenitor Cells and Soluble Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Prognosis after Coronary Angioplasty
Published on: January 28, 2020
Cangel Pui-Yee Chan1, Timothy Hudson Rainer
1Accident and Emergency Medicine Academic Unit, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, PR China. cangelchan@cuhk.edu.hk
Insights
Early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is crucial for timely treatment. Emerging biomarkers show promise for earlier risk assessment and improved patient management, though further evaluation is needed.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is critical for effective therapy.
- Accurate risk stratification guides resource allocation for diagnostic tests and interventions.
- Biomarkers play a key role in assessing patient risk and predicting adverse events.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the pathophysiology and clinical utility of established and emerging biomarkers for ACS.
- To highlight biomarkers that may enable earlier risk assessment in ACS patients.
Main Methods:
- Literature review of pathophysiology and clinical characteristics of ACS biomarkers.
- Analysis of established and emerging biomarkers for plaque destabilization, ischemia, necrosis, and dysfunction.
Main Results:
- Biomarkers upstream of acute-phase markers may offer earlier risk assessment.
- Emerging biomarkers show potential for identifying high-risk ACS patients.
- Established biomarkers aid in risk stratification and guiding interventions.
Conclusions:
- Biomarkers are essential for early ACS diagnosis and risk stratification.
- Emerging biomarkers hold promise for earlier and more accurate patient assessment.
- Further research is required to validate emerging biomarkers for routine clinical use.
Abstract:
Early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is important to guide appropriate therapy at a time when it is most likely to be of value. Accurate prognostic and risk stratification will facilitate high-risk patients to have early advanced diagnostic investigations and early appropriate interventions in a cost-effective and efficient manner, while those patients at low risk of ACS complications do not need such costly diagnostic tests and unnecessary hospital admission. Recent investigations have demonstrated that elevation of biomarkers upstream from acute-phase biomarkers, biomarkers of plaque destabilization and rupture, biomarkers of myocardial ischemia, necrosis, and dysfunction may provide an earlier assessment of patient risk and identify patients with higher risk of having an adverse event. This review provides an overview of the pathophysiology and clinical characteristics of several well-established biomarkers as well as emerging biomarkers that may have potential clinical utility in patients with ACS. Such emerging biomarkers hold promise and need to be more thoroughly evaluated before utilization in routine clinical practice.
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