Figure 2

Biomarkers in transplantation medicine. The application of biomarkers in transplantation medicine is very sensitive to time. Allograft damage progresses with time after transplantation, and the earlier allograft damage is detected, the better the chances for long-term allograft function become. Transplantation is the process that initiates the changes that lead to allograft damage. Post-transplantation biomarkers are dynamic, and the current post-transplantation biomarkers have a high threshold, allowing clinical diagnoses only long after transplantation damage, when changes are clinically and histologically manifested. Novel post-transplantation biomarkers require high sensitivity and a low threshold to indicate allograft damage pre-clinically; examples include non-invasive transcriptomic or proteomic biomarkers that will be applied to diagnose pathologies, to predict rejection, functional outcome, or the individual patient's response to immunossupression. Other applications include targets for novel therapeutic interventions New pre-transplantation biomarkers are stable and are needed to indicate a patient's baseline risk for damage or graft accommodation after transplantation. New pre-transplantation biomarkers are also needed to predict graft rejection and/or accommodation or the response to immunosuppression.