Biomarkers for cardiovascular disease

The high incidence of cardiovascular disease constitutes a significant socioeconomic burden in developed countries. Extensive clinical research has led to the identification of biomarkers that could be utilised to predict the risk of heart disease. Whether these biomarkers are generic or applicable for precision medicine remains unclear.

To address this issue, the EU-funded BIOMARCARE (Biomarker for cardiovascular risk assessment in Europe) project is using European cohorts to perform large-scale biomarker determination. The outcome of the project should provide an overall picture on the predictive value of existing and emerging biomarkers.

The consortium employed cutting-edge quantitative technologies (proteomic, transcriptomic, metabolomic, and miRNA) to identify biomarkers based on their association with cardiovascular risk and disease phenotype. These biomarkers are validated among the European population and the long-term plan is to identify those that could be exploited for cardiovascular risk assessment.

Given the bulk of samples analysed, data harmonisation poses a significant challenge. BIOMARCARE partners have addressed this through a central data center that receives data from the different study sites and prepares them for analysis.

The outcome of the study will contribute towards a strategy for achieving individualised risk prediction of cardiovascular disease. The association of biomarkers with lifestyle choices and medication should help formulate health policies and potentially decrease cardiovascular disease incidence.

Apart from a healthcare perspective, the pharmaceutical industry would also be interested in a biomarker-based solution for increasing technical success of their new compounds. Using a biomarker-driven approach, they could obtain results much earlier in the drug development process, thus, significantly reducing R&D costs.