An Assessment of Skeletal Muscle Troponin I as a Biomarker of Drug-Induced Skeletal Muscle Toxicity

Many drugs can induce skeletal muscle myotoxicity and creatine kinase (CK) is often used as a biomarker of myotoxicity. However, CK has been shown to be present in the heart, kidney and brain in addition to skeletal muscle, thus its presence in the blood cannot be completely attributed to skeletal muscle injury. Skeletal muscle troponin (sTnI) is a protein that is part of the contractile apparatus in the skeletal muscle cells and is released into the blood following damage specific to these cells. An ultrasensitive immunoassay to monitor the levels of sTnI in the blood has been developed by Singulex Inc. This scientific poster demonstrates several advantages of using sTnl as a biomarker of skeletal muscle injury including increased sensitivity and specificity compared to CK.