Biomarkers in community-acquired pneumonia: A state-of-the-art review

Abstract

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) exhibits mortality rates, between 20% and 50% in severe cases. Biomarkers are useful tools for searching for antibiotic therapy modifications and for CAP diagnosis, prognosis and follow-up treatment. This non-systematic state-of-the-art review presents the biological and clinical features of biomarkers in CAP patients, including procalcitonin, C-reactive protein, copeptin, pro-ANP (atrial natriuretic peptide), adrenomedullin, cortisol and D-dimers.

Superiority of Transcriptional Profiling Over Procalcitonin for Distinguishing Bacterial From Viral Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Hospitalized Adults

“…In addition, although there are promising results supporting the applicability of PCT as a prognostic biomarker, its value as a diagnostic tool is still under debate. Its diagnostic accuracy in LRTI is variable and depends on the cutoff values used and the conditions under study, such as community-acquired pneumonia, acute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or bronchitis [26]. Our results indicate that the 10 classifier genes have superior sensitivity and similar specificity compared with serum PCT, demonstrating the potential value of transcriptional profiling as a diagnostic tool to differentiate viral from bacterial LRTI in the adult population.…”

Markers of lower respiratory tract infections in emergency departments

“…PCT was found very useful to assess the severity of respiratory disease and the necessity of antibiotic use as CRP in various studies, and it has been reported that PCT is a more sensitive marker than CRP. Cut off values of PCT were recommended between 0,15 ng/ml and 0,5 ng/ml for the best sensitivity and specificity in different studies [27,28]. …”

Serum procalcitonin as a diagnostic aid in patients with acute bacterial septic arthritis

“…Procalcitonin is a protein that is encoded by the CALC‐I gene on chromosome 11. Its concentration in serum of healthy subjects are undetectable or low, generally < 0.1 ng/mL . Inflammation and infectious injury stimulate the increase in serum procalcitonin.…”