ASC Biomarker

Biomarkers are valuable tools to predict, diagnose, and monitor disease progression. They can also be used to target patients who are likely to respond to specific treatments, and to monitor ongoing efficacy of those treatments over time.

Researchers at the University of Miami evaluated serum inflammasome proteins as potential biomarkers for inflammatory disorders and identified ASC as a strong candidate1.  Serum ASC levels were elevated in patients with various inflammatory disorders when compared to healthy people.  Additionally, when compared to caspase-1 as a biomarker in patients with multiple sclerosis, ASC had a similar sensitivity to caspase-1, but a significantly higher specificity than caspase-1.

ASC Biomarker

ASC levels have been demonstrated to correlate with disease outcomes and disease severity.

  • In brain injured patients, levels of ASC proteins within the first 5 days after injury were predictive of outcomes 5 months after trauma2
  • In patients with MS segmented into those with mild or moderate disease severity, serum ASC levels were higher in patients with moderate versus mild disease3

References

  1. Keane RW, Dietrich DW, de Rivero Vaccari JP. Inflammasome Proteins as Biomarkers of Multiple Sclerosis. Frontiers in Neurology. Multiple Sclerosis and Neuroimmunology. 2018 Mar 19;9:135
  2. Kerr N, Lee SW, Perez-Barcena J, et al. Inflammasome proteins as biomarkers of traumatic brain injury. PLoS One. 2018;13(12):e0210128. Published 2018 Dec 31. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0210128
  3. Keane RW, Dietrich WD, de Rivero Vaccari JP. Inflammasome Proteins As Biomarkers of Multiple Sclerosis. Front Neurol. 2018;9:135. Published 2018 Mar 19. doi:10.3389/fneur.2018.00135