Novel Biomarkers in Endocrine and Metabolic Diseases

Dear Colleagues,

Clinical practice in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolic diseases strongly relies on laboratory testing and the evaluation of appropriate biomarkers for risk factor assessment, screening procedures, differential diagnosis, prognosis, prediction of treatment response, and monitoring of disease progression. Effectiveness of these important applications requires a multidisciplinary approach between clinicians and laboratory professionals to ensure their correct performance and interpretation. Actually, in the case of a particular endocrine laboratory test, both these aspects depend on the nature of the clinical question, and on the correct workflow of the laboratory testing cycle, for which both endocrinologists and clinical pathologists share responsibilities. Despite the unquestionable progressive improvement of techniques and methodologies, many commonly used laboratory biomarkers lack sufficient clinical sensitivity and/or specificity. To overcome this problem, different strategies are currently being used, including the combination of multiple biomarkers, so that these may be combined together with patients’ clinical information to obtain clinical scores. On the other hand, the search for novel biomarkers for many clinical endocrine settings is in continuous progress and deserves serious effort to prove clinical utility and, ultimately, additional benefits to patients.

From a discovery research perspective, with the advent of high-throughput platforms in genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and bioinformatics, an increasing number of novel candidate biomarkers have emerged. However, a much more intensive effort is needed for their clinical validation, as well as for the assessment of their biological and molecular significance, in order to unravel the critical components of cellular and tissue pathways that become altered in each endocrine disease.

This Special Issue of Endocrines will embrace original research studies, narrative/systematic reviews, communications, and commentaries that outline pearls and pitfalls of conventional and emergent molecular, cellular, and clinical laboratory biomarkers in endocrine pathology, incorporating either or both of the endocrinologists’ and medical laboratory professionals’ and pathologists’ points of views.

Prof. Dr. Daniela Foti
Prof. Dr. Antonio Brunetti
Dr. Marta Greco
Guest Editors

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• biomarkers
• endocrine diseases
• diabetes
• clinical pathology
• endocrine laboratory test
• high-throughput-sequencing technologies