The use of biomarkers in clinical osteoporosis

Abstract

Summary Osteoporosis is a disease of ascending character in the world population; in this context, bone biomarkers are being increasingly studied in order to aid in the diagnosis and monitoring of these patients. The main objective of this study was a literature review of articles whose main theme was the use of biomarkers for bone formation and degradation, and to evaluate their possible applicability in clinical practice. Literature review was performed through articles indexed and published in the last five years in the PubMed database. The findings of this study showed that most of the previously selected articles were published in the last two years, and the most cited markers were bone resorption, C-terminal collagen telopeptide (CTX), showing the highest correlation with the dynamics of bone, and the biomarker of bone formation, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (BAP), which is increased in the event of fracture or may suggest another bone disease. There was an increase in published articles, associating different bone biomarkers and their clinical applicability, especially for treatment control. Our findings suggest that in recent years there has been significant increase in publications evaluating the use of bone turnover biomarkers for bone formation and resorption and their possible clinical applicability, especially in the monitoring of treatment. Still, we believe that further studies need to be conducted to confirm these findings, given the advantages that bone biomarkers can deliver in the clinical management of the disease.