Diagnostic Biomarkers for Diabetes: A Review

Introduction: In the year 2021, about 537 million adults between the age group of 20-79 years are living with diabetes. The expected number of individuals living with diabetes will be 643 million by 2030 and 783 million by 2045 [1]. The diagnosis of diabetes and prediabetes with the help of various biomarkers, at right time with accuracy can help in improving the scenario in which the diagnostic biomarkers play an important role. Prediabetes is an intermediate condition of hyperglycemia characterized by impaired fasting glucose levels and impaired glucose tolerance [2]. Biomarkers can be defined as “biological molecules that represent health or disease state” [3].

Discussion: The conventional diagnostic biomarkers of diabetes include fasting and postprandial blood glucose levels, HbA1c, fructosamine, glycated albumin, etc. [4]. These biomarkers have limitations like moderate sensitivity and specificity. As diabetes is mostly associated with other comorbidities, these biomarkers become inaccurate in several clinical conditions [5,6]. Recently, LAMA2, MLL4, and PLXDC2 are found to be novel and reliable serum protein markers for pre-diabetic diagnosis in humans [7].

Conclusion: Therefore, there is a consistent exploration of more accurate and novel diagnostic biomarkers. The exploratory study of novel diagnostic biomarkers can help in the accurate diagnosis of prediabetes as well as diabetes with other comorbidities. Another approach for better diagnosis is to combine several biomarkers. In the future, more reliable diagnostic biomarkers and their combinations can be optimized for the diagnosis of prediabetes as well as diabetes.