Peripheral artery disease is probably the most common cardiovascular disease.
It affects extensive areas of arteries in the lower extremities. Almost invariably, it
is the result of a sustained and asymptomatic progression of the disease, and effective
preventive measures are applied too late. In peripheral artery disease, the degree of
atherosclerosis is greater than in patients with adverse events in other arterial
territories. Different aspects of atherosclerosis may also be represented, and designing
strategies for prompt identification could facilitate therapeutic goals. The main
objective of this chapter is to describe biomarkers that can be measured in serum or
plasma, which help diagnose, monitor and/or predict the course of the disease. This
chapter defines and describes established biomarkers, emerging biomarkers and
candidate biomarkers. This chapter includes short descriptions of their main
characteristics and their usefulness in the clinical evaluation of peripheral artery
disease. Our aim is to give reader a perspective on the advances made in the research
laboratory over the recent years in the analysis of these patients.
Keywords: Arginine, Atherosclerosis, β-hydroxybutyrate, β-2-melatonin, Biomarkers,
C-reactive protein, CCL2, Cysteine, Galectin-3, Homocysteine, Hydroxycholesterol,
Inflammation, Isoprostanes, Oxidative stress, Peripheral artery
disease, Microglobulin, PON1, Protein carbonyls, Tricarboxylic acid cycle products,
8-hydroxy-2-deoxy guanosine.
