Biomarker

Subject – Science and Tech

Context – Australia’s Queensland state has found a new omicron lineage in a traveller who arrived from South Africa

Concept –

In medicine, a biomarker is a measurable indicator of the severity or presence of some disease state.
- More generally a biomarker is anything that can be used as an indicator of a particular disease state or some other physiological state of an organism.
According to the WHO, the indicator may be chemical, physical, or biological in nature – and the measurement may be functional, physiological, biochemical, cellular, or molecular.
A biomarker may be used to see how well the body responds to a treatment for a disease or condition.
Also called molecular marker and signature molecule.
Biomarkers help in diagnosing, treating and tracking disease progress. They are important to safeguard health of an individual and provide them with proper treatment.