Tuesday 5 April 2016

Sequenced-Genome Cardiac Biomarkers for Personalized Therapeutics

Human blood stream carries more than just blood. A fusion of enzymes and gases take the same path infused along with the blood. Under conditions where, the human heart is either injured or stressed, a set of substances are released into the blood vessels. On sampling this blood for laboratory tests, the concentration of these substances indicate the presence of any potential threats that might lead to cardiac arrests and/or diseases.

Patients with symptoms such as shortened breath plus frequent chest pains and nausea are usually checked for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and cardiac ischemia. Although these signs might be misleading in certain cases. Cardiac markers are indicative of post-operative or conditional damage, whereas marker levels indicate the severity of damage. Troponin is the most preferred marker to be evaluated for a suspected case of ACS. A highly-sensitive troponin assay quickens the diagnostics of myocardial injury within the first 6 hours of any infarction symptoms. The only issue of such tests are false alarms in most cases. Moreover, they are not yet approved in some parts of the world. Other markers include Creatine Kinase, Creatine Kinase -MB, and Myoglobin which are also tested for concentrations in blood samples. While troponins and Myoglobin are protein isoforms and oxygen-storing proteins respectively, Creatine Kinase are a class of isoenzymes tested when troponins are unavailable.


Regular assessment for prognosis of risks of heart failure in individual cases require testing for High-sensitivity C-reactive Proteins, B-type Natriuretic Peptide, and N-terminal pro b-type Natriuretic Peptide. These are most common among the patients with a history of cardiac injury. 

According to a rough estimate, global population inflicted with cardiovascular diseases shall be greater than that affected by infectious diseases in the next five years. All credits to the major change in global lifestyle, including sleeping, eating, and working habits. However, the same population is aware of the risks threatening their cardiac health. Medical consultation for prevention and early diagnosis is extremely common among the urban class. This expands the research domains beyond the traditional markers and consequential therapeutics in current use.

The trend-shift towards development of target medicines has called for biomarkers based on sequenced genomes. Possible additions to the set of biomarkers shall be based on the study of sundry phenotypes and epigenomes. Levels and types of bio-complexes in genetic samples are studied as well as classified on a common database. Associations are established on the basis of similar genetic activity in specimens under various environmental impacts. For instance, the study of global cellular activity in a host helps identification of irregular fat distribution that might pose cardiac risks. Differential gene expression profiling in epicardial adipose is done to realize drug targets in relevant cases.

Present issues with identifying cardiac biomarkers plus their appropriate testing procedures are being dealt with newer research findings. Improved understanding of pathophysiology of cardiac diseases has resulted from the application of genomics and proteomics to pertinent clinical trials. These claim to introduce novel precise diagnostic and therapeutic procedures to cardiac biomarkers market.

Market strategies of global stakeholders in cardiac markers market are sensitive of the paradigm shift in diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Resultantly, manufacturers offer an array of customized solutions to its consumers. The entire market structure is segmented by marker types, applications, testing locations as well as regional geographies. A report published by Allied Market Research, titled “World Cardiac Biomarkers Market - Opportunities and Forecasts, 2014 -2020” provides insightful review of the same. Opportunity pockets for profitable investment and relative restraining factors have been outlined for the reference of potential investors. Corporate profiling of market giants for their market services, financial statistics, and regional operations across the globe provide a clear outlook of current as well as future market trends.