The road from discovery to clinic: adiponectin as a biomarker of metabolic status.

Biomarkers are globally used to monitor clinical responses to therapeutic and lifestyle interventions. The adipocyte-derived hormone adiponectin is recognized as a promising new biomarker owing to its many associations with components of the metabolic syndrome. The study described by Wagner and colleagues in this issue offers a first example of how a large-scale effort in the context of a cross-company collaborative study in the pharmaceutical industry can offer a powerful tool for the further validation of a new biomarker in the context of pharmacological intervention with peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor-gamma (PPAR-gamma) agonists.