Advances in biomarkers for paediatric rheumatic diseases

The search for biomarkers in paediatric rheumatic diseases is attracting increased interestSeveral biomarkers have potential to predict the clinical phenotype, disease activity, response to treatment and course of disease in juvenile idiopathic arthritisBiomarkers that reflect the degree of activation and expansion of T cells and macrophages could help to identify subclinical macrophage activation syndromeNovel urine biomarkers for childhood lupus nephritis hold promise for facilitating early diagnosis, improving disease monitoring and assessment of response to therapyMyositis-specific autoantibodies define distinct serological subgroups of juvenile idiopathic inflammatory myositis, albeit with similar clinical characteristicsThe diagnostic power of biomarkers might help to avoid invasive procedures, such as renal biopsy in systemic lupus erythematosus, and muscle biopsy in juvenile dermatomyositis