Serum biomarkers in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic airway diseases, which leads to heavy social and economic burden to our country. We can use serum biomarkers to evaluate diagnosis, classification, treatment and prognosis of COPD. The change of biomarkers provides lots of valuable clinical information. A variety of biomarkers are associated with the severity of lung function, which can be used to judge disease severity. Some indicators are related to the diagnosis of acute exacerbation or hospitalization risk. Some serum markers would guide therapy and can be effectively applied to clinical work. Study of COPD serum biomarkers would provide more reference information for clinical physicians in diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of COPD. Key words: Pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive/ME/DI/TH; Biological markers/ME; Review