Branched-chain Amino Acids as Potential Diagnostic and Prognostic Disease Biomarkers

Abstract

Recent evidences demonstrate that branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) are associated with a number of pathologies encompassing insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes mellitus, chronic kidney disease as well as ischemic stroke, major depression and Huntington disease. Therefore, the measurement and monitoring of BCAAs levels in biological fluids and organs could represent a promising method for aiding in the clinical diagnosis and prognosis assessment for patients. However, too many questions are still open regarding the mechanisms at the basis of the relationship between BCAAs levels and disease process/severity. It is widely accepted that BCAAs levels in diagnosing, predicting or monitoring disease can be concretely useful in the presence of additional information that will place these levels in the context of the whole clinical picture.