Biomarkers and their potential functions in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

ABSTRACT

Introduction

Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, devastating, and progressive lung disease that is characterized by fibrosis and respiratory failure. IPF holds high morbidity and poor prognosis and still faces considerable problems of reliable diagnosis and valid prognosis. A growing body of literature have reported changes in the level of various biomarkers in IPF patients, which means that they are expected to become a new tool for the clinical practice of IPF.

Areas covered

We reviewed the recent literature about biomarkers and focus on the role they play in IPF. We systematically searched Medline/PubMed through February 2020. Many works of literature have shown that a variety of biomolecules and genomics played multiple roles in the diagnosis or differential diagnosis, prognosis, and indication of acute deterioration of IPF and so on.

Expert opinion

Significant advances have been made in the role of biomarkers for IPF these years; however, current data indicate that a single biomarker is unlikely to have a transformative effect on clinical practice; therefore, the combined effect of various biomarkers can be considered to improve the accuracy of diagnosis and prognosis. Further research of biomarkers may provide new insights for the diagnosis, prognosis, and even therapy of IPF.

KEYWORDS:

• IPF
• biomarkers
• function
• diagnosis
• prognosis
• acute exacerbation

Article Highlights

• The biomarkers were analyzed from the perspective of their potential function in IPF

• Both biomolecules and genomics biomarkers of IPF have been studied in this article

• Special biomarkers such as miRNAs and microbiomes were included

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Dr Peng, Dr Song, Dr Guo for their useful suggestions, and to Miss Ni, Miss Guo, Miss Shen for their cooperation and dedication.

Declaration of Interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer Disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant number 81670062]; and the Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province [grant number 2015JJ4087].