Discovery of Antibody Biomarker

Dear Colleagues,

Biomarkers are important and indispensable not only for diagnosis but also for the identification of therapeutic targets. Thus far, many antigen, enzyme, and nucleic acid markers have been developed, yet only few antibody markers are known. Autoantibodies have causal roles in autoimmune diseases, and may affect the development of cancer. Until recently, it was believed that autoantibodies appeared only in patients with autoimmune disease or cancer. However, the recent development of technology has revealed that autoantibodies are developed against most proteins in the body. Such autoantibodies may reflect an individual’s medical history. Therefore, autoantibodies can be applicable for diagnosis of other varieties of diseases in addition to autoimmune disease and cancer. Antibody levels are tremendously increased by repeated exposure to antigens. Therefore, antibody markers are highly sensitive and capable of discriminate trivial alterations of cells and organs. It has been suggested that autoantibodies sometimes play causal roles in other diseases than autoimmune diseases. Thus, analysis of autoantibodies is effective in the identification of therapeutic targets. Remarkable development of antibody biomarkers is expected in the future.

This is the joint Special Issue both in IJMS and Diagnostics.

Dr. Takaki Hiwasa
Guest Editor

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