Clinically Promising Biomarkers in Cystic Fibrosis Pulmonary Exacerbations

Abstract

Cystic fibrosis is a complex genetic disease hallmarked by repetitive infectious exacerbations that leads to destruction of airway architecture, acute on chronic inflammatory changes, and deterioration in lung function. Predicting an exacerbation may help preempt some of these changes by the initiation of swift antibiotic and anti-inflammatory therapy. A search for biomarkers that could predict exacerbations or help guide duration of antibiotic therapy is being aggressively sought. In this review, we discuss the most recent and promising biomarkers that hopefully will assist in the future management of the CF patient.

Keywords: Biomarkers; Cystic fibrosis; Cystic fibrosis pulmonary exacerbation.