The Programme
Protein
Biomarkers
Protein biomarkers are naturally occurring
substances that can be measured, often in fluids such as blood or
urine. Such biomarkers have the potential to provide information about
a patient and their illness. Different diseases have different
biomarkers. When people become ill, changes in biomarker levels may
occur before any clinical symptoms or signs become apparent. Measuring
biomarkers in blood or urine is simple, safe and may help the doctor
diagnose which disease the patient has, determine how severe it is,
help choose the best treatment and help detect if the disease is
getting worse or better.
New developments in research mean that many more
biomarkers are now being discovered than ever before. However, there is
currently no well-defined pathway linking biomarker research to health
services research. The result is that while new biomarkers are
constantly being identified, for many diseases there are not enough
biomarkers that are of proven usefulness in patient care today.
NIHR
liver/renal biomarker programme
The NIHR liver/renal biomarker programme is aimed
at developing a structure and methods to assess the clinical usefulness
of biomarkers as quickly and efficiently as possible. We have recently
been awarded a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Programme
grant of £2 million to establish a process for stringent evaluation of
promising biomarkers.
Programme Aims
The main aims of the programme are to enable assessment of :
- impact on clinical outcome
- the process of care
- resource use
- service configurations.
Introduction
to Workstreams
The research programme is divided into three parallel work streams:
- Work
stream 1: Methodology - to evaluate methodological
developments and evaluations
- Work
stream 2: Clinical Biochemistry - clinical sample banking and
assay development (principally in selected renal and liver diseases)
- Work
stream 3: Clinical Trial - a national randomised clinical
trial of a panel of biomarkers in chronic liver disease.
Level of
coordination between workstreams - a flowchart
The flowchart below highlights the main remits of each work stream as
well as the level of coordination between work streams.
