Biomarkers: A Challenging Conundrum in Cardiovascular Disease

The use of biomarkers has proven utility in cardiovascular medicine and holds great promise for future advances, but their application requires considerable rigor in thinking and methodology. Numerous confounding factors can cloud the clinical and investigative uses of biomarkers. Yet, the thoughtful and critical use of biomarkers can doubtless aid discovery of new pathogenic pathways, identify novel therapeutic targets, and provide a bridge between the laboratory and the clinic. Biomarkers can provide diagnostic and prognostic tools to the practitioner. The careful application of biomarkers can also help design and guide clinical trials required to establish the efficacy of novel interventions to improve patient outcomes. Point of care testing, technological advances, such as microfluidic and wearable devices, and the power of omics approaches all promise to elevate the potential contributions of biomarkers to discovery science, translation, clinical trials, and the practice of cardiovascular medicine.