ASC Biomarker

Biomarkers are valuable tools to predict, diagnose, and monitor disease progression. They can also be used to target patients who are likely to respond to specific treatments, and to monitor ongoing efficacy of those treatments over time.

Researchers at the University of Miami evaluated serum inflammasome proteins as potential biomarkers for inflammatory disorders and identified ASC as a strong candidate¹.  Serum ASC levels were elevated in patients with various inflammatory disorders when compared to healthy people.  Additionally, when compared to caspase-1 as a biomarker in patients with multiple sclerosis, ASC had a similar sensitivity to caspase-1, but a significantly higher specificity than caspase-1.

ASC levels have been demonstrated to correlate with disease outcomes and disease severity.

• In brain injured patients, levels of ASC proteins within the first 5 days after injury were predictive of outcomes 5 months after trauma²
• In patients with MS segmented into those with mild or moderate disease severity, serum ASC levels were higher in patients with moderate versus mild disease³