• Sebastian T Lugg, Phillip A Howells, and David R Thickett.
• School of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, College of Medical and Dental Sciences, Centre for Translational Inflammation Research (CITR), University of Birmingham Laboratories, Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, Birmingham, B15 2TH, UK. d.thickett@bham.ac.uk.
• Crit Care. 2015 Apr 22; 19 (1): 189189.

AbstractThere is an increasing focus on intensive care unit-acquired weakness, its underlying mechanisms and therapeutic options. In this article we offer a commentary on the paper by Bloch and colleagues entitled 'MiR-181a: a potential biomarker of acute muscle wasting following cardiac surgery'. There is a need for biomarkers for intensive care unit-acquired weakness, not only in clinical practice but also in order to streamline future therapeutic trials. MicroRNAs are attractive biomarkers, and may have an important role in this disease. We highlight the significance of the authors' finding of miR-181a, a novel plasma biomarker for the development of acute muscle wasting in post-operative cardiac surgery patients and discuss future research that is needed in this field following on from the study findings.

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