From differentiating metabolites to biomarkers

Abstract

The current developments in metabolomics and metabolic profiling technologies have led to the discovery of several new metabolic biomarkers. Finding metabolites present in significantly different levels between sample sets, however, does not necessarily make these metabolites useful biomarkers. The route to valid and applicable biomarkers (biomarker qualification) is long and demands a significant amount of work. In this overview, we critically discuss the current state-of-the-art of metabolic biomarker discovery, with highlights and shortcomings, and suggest a pathway to clinical usefulness.

Fig. 1

The process of biomarker discovery covers more than finding differentiating metabolites

Fig. 2

The design of biomarker discovery experiments determines specificity and robustness of biomarkers; more controlled experiments are more specific, but decrease the robustness; less controlled experiments will give more robust biomarkers, but may introduce unexpected biases