While individual novel biomarkers for PAH show promise, current evidence is weak, pointing toward the future utility of multibiomarker panels.
Novel biomarkers lack evidence for PAH care; leaves open multibiomarker panels for prospective validation.
Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains a difficult-to-treat condition with high mortality. Biomarkers are utilized to aid with diagnosis, prognostication and response to treatment. A clinically useful and PAH-specific single biomarker that is easy to measure remains elusive. This is in part due to the heterogeneity of PAH and its complex etiology. Brain natriuretic peptide and its N-terminal fragment are currently the most widely used serum markers; however, several novel serum biomarkers have been investigated recently. Taken individually, the evidence for each of these seems provisionally promising though currently weak overall. It is likely that a multibiomarker panel will be recommended in the future, with the optimal combination yet to be determined.
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McGlinchey et al. (2014) studied this question.
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