Biomarkers in Cardiovascular Diseases PDF

Preface

It is well known that atherosclerosis begins from an early age and evolves during the years, via altered underlying processes, leading to its manifestations the most significant being cardiovascular disease. The latter is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western societies and several risk factors have been associated with development of heart diseases. Thus, several "tools" have been investigated in order to monitor not only heart diseases, but also atherogenesis. Current research has identified several biomarkers that have been found to possess a crucial role. Many years have passed since the first time when the term "biomarker" was introduced as "a measurable and quantifiable biological parameter". Numerous biomarkers have been strongly linked to the underlying processes such as inflammation, thrombosis and increased oxidative stress. For several years now classical biomarkers, including C-reactive protein, fibrinogen, pro-inflammatory cytokines, adhesion molecules and others, have been used as a diagnostic tool to determine the condition of cardiovascular diseases patients.

However, further questions led to the discovery of new biomarkers such as endothelial progenitor cells, markers of the extracellular matrix and others or the most recently debated microRNAs. Moreover, all these biomarkers are still under investigation and till now there is not one single marker that includes both specificity and cost-effectiveness. Research is continuing for the ideal biomarker that will offer reliability, accessibility and easy interpretation by clinicians. Considering the fact that no individual biomarker exhibits all the necessary requirements, perhaps the use of a combination of biomarkers appears the most likely and effective alternative, but this also has to be proven through large scale studies.

Therefore, in the present book, we focus on the presentation and evaluation of the most promising biomarkers used in all conditions(stable or unstable) of cardiovascular diseases and we review their potential contribution in the pathophysiology of atherosclerosis.

In the first chapter Tousoulis et al. reviews the role of biomarkers in early atherosclerosis, while in chapters two-four Androulakis et al., Tousoulis et al. and Toutouzas et al. discuss the role of biomarkers in hypertension as screening strategies and they comment on the role of circulating biomarkers in states of hyperlipidemia and acute coronary syndromes.

In the next three chapters Andreoli et al., Brili et al. and Aggeli et al. elaborate on the role of biomarkers in congestive heart failure, pulmonary embolism and hypertension, as well as the role of cardiac biomarkers in coronary artery by-pass grafting respectively.

In the following three chapters Charakida et al. discuss the role of biomarkers in peripheral vascular disease, Tsioufi s et al. reviews the role of biomarkers in the cardiorenal syndrome, while Tousoulis et al. highlight the implication of C-reactive protein in cardiovascular disease.

In the second part of this book the authors focus on novel biomarkers. Tousoulis et al. comment on the role of novel biomarkers in stable and unstable coronary artery disease, Oikonomou et al. discuss the role of novel cardiac biomarkers and their application to heart failure, while Antonopoulos et al. expand on the role of genetics/genomics as cardiac biomarkers. In the final three chapters Papageorgiou et al. highlight the role of microRNAs in cardiovascular disease, Dilaveris et al. discuss the role of circulating biomarkers in cardiac arrhythmias, while Zaromitidou et al. report the available data on the potential role of biomarkers in the antiplatelet treatment.