What is a biomarker?
A biomarker, short for biological marker, is a characteristic of the body that can be measured and gives an indication of a biological process.
Biomarkers can be different types of biological “things”, including molecules such as proteins and genes or even specific changes in proteins or genes or any kind of change in a structure or process.
Measuring biomarkers can give an inclination into the biological processes happening within the body, from an overall perspective to right down into what is happening at a cellular level, within cells of specific tissues. Biomarkers essentially give a snapshot of what is happening within the body at a certain time, and sometimes in a certain place.
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Biomarkers are very useful in terms of medicine and health. They can serve as early-warning signs that something is not quite right, and they can act as ways to see if things are starting to look right again after some kind of intervention, such as a lifestyle change or medical treatment.
A lot of biomarkers we all know about are those that we can get measured by our doctor at a routine visit. Now you’re probably thinking of a blood test or urine sample already, right? But even your blood pressure and weight are examples of biomarkers. But yes, you’re right, many biomarkers are also those that can be tested in bodily fluids, such as blood, urine and saliva, and from tissues, such as with biopsies. Some of these biomarkers that can be measured in a lab are known as molecular biomarkers. Molecular biomarkers have biophysical characteristics and include things like genetic material (DNA and RNA), proteins, lipids, hormones and metabolites. The other type of biomarkers are those that can be measured and analysed by imaging techniques, such as MRI scans and using fancy microscopes.
Biomarkers can be classified by how they can be measured and what they provide information about.
The primary type of biomarkers are the diagnostic ones (the ones we most know about anyway). These biomarkers give insights into your health and can inform you of specific issues or diseases that you may have or be at risk of getting, based on the amount or characteristic of the biomarker. Many of these diagnostic biomarkers also fall into the other categories involving drug development and clinical research.
There are three types of biomarkers (according to Genetics and Molecular Biology methods):
Type 0 – these help measure a disease’s natural progression. For example, creatinine measured in blood serum is a type 0 biomarker, as it is used to measure kidney function or monitor the kidneys after injury.
Type 1 – these biomarkers are the ones that give insights into the activity of drugs, like how well a drug works, how the drug works or if the drug has any potential side effects. An example of a type 1 biomarker is glucose in the blood, as levels can be used to track the effectiveness of insulin as a treatment for diabetes.
Type 2 – these are the tough biomarkers that give information that may hint at a disease or risk of a disease, but this information should be taken with a pinch of salt. Cholesterol is an example of a type 2 biomarker. High cholesterol levels suggest an increased risk of heart disease, as this is usually the case. But, there are exceptions where someone could have high cholesterol levels but never get heart disease.
There are a few ways to classify biomarkers, to overcomplicate matters, but we will stick with the three types discussed above.
At theblood, we look at biomarkers in, well, blood obviously… but not just normal blood running through your veins; we measure and validate biomarkers in menstrual blood.
Peripheral blood (venous blood) is used as a bodily fluid sample type to measure many different biomarkers because it contains many biomarkers that can tell you all sorts from every part of your body. Blood has all these molecules in it, such as hormones, nutrients, proteins and metabolites, as the blood has contact with all the organs and tissues as it gets pumped through your body. You can learn a lot about yourself by looking at the biomarkers just within the blood.
Blood is blood, so the blood within your menstrual blood (effluent, as it’s A LOT more than just blood) comes from the blood that has been travelling through your body and has all of these molecules within it. And what’s best about measuring these in menstrual blood? You don’t need to stick a needle in your veins to get it… of course.
Check out this blog post (Menstrual blood: the key to better diagnostics) to learn more about why we are looking at biomarkers in menstrual blood…
