• Julien Guiot, Catherine Moermans, Monique Henket, Jean-Louis Corhay, and Renaud Louis.
• Pneumology Department, CHU Liège, Domaine universitaire du Sart-Tilman, B35, B4000, Liège, Belgium. J.Guiot@chu.ulg.ac.be.
• Lung. 2017 Jun 1; 195 (3): 273-280.

PurposeIdiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a progressive and lethal lung disease of unknown origin whose incidence has been increasing over the latest decade partly as a consequence of population ageing. New anti-fibrotic therapy including pirfenidone and nintedanib have now proven efficacy in slowing down the disease. Nevertheless, diagnosis and follow-up of IPF remain challenging.MethodsThis review examines the recent literature on potentially useful blood molecular and cellular biomarkers in IPF. Most of the proposed biomarkers belong to chemokines (IL-8, CCL18), proteases (MMP-1 and MMP-7), and growth factors (IGBPs) families. Circulating T cells and fibrocytes have also gained recent interest in that respect. Up to now, though several interesting candidates are profiling there has not been a single biomarker, which proved to be specific of the disease and predictive of the evolution (decline of pulmonary function test values, risk of acute exacerbation or mortality).ConclusionLarge scale multicentric studies are eagerly needed to confirm the utility of these biomarkers.

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