Beyond the dawning of the age of biomarkers.

摘要

According to a recent report of the Institute of Medicine, quoting an earlier National Institutes of Health Biomarkers Definition Working Group, a biomarker is "a characteristic that is objectively measured and evaluated as an indicator of normal biological processes, pathogenic processes, or responses to a[n] ... intervention." Biomarkers may serve a variety of research and clinical purposes, including confirmation of diagnosis, early recognition, and staging or monitoring of disease progression. Alone or in combination with clinical evaluation, biomarkers are expected to provide more accurate assessment than clinical measures alone.