A Brief View on the Role of Enzymes in the Diagnosis, Monitoring and Treatment of Diseases and their Application in Medical, Genetics and Proteomics Laboratory Methods

Enzymes have been used experimentally in the preparation of fermented, food, and medicinal products since mankind started a regular life in the form of early civilizations, without any information about their nature being available. It has been more than a century since scientists have obtained information about the enzymatic reactions and the enzyme structure, and a newer and more practical attitude towards them is obtained day by day. Today, these proteins play roles as biomarkers in the diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases. Enzymes roles as receptor for some hormones and their qualitative and quantitative changes interfering in the onset of some diseases such as diabetes have been known. In addition, they are used as accurate and specific tools in the assay of some biochemical analytes, phenotypic identification of bacteria and biosensor design. The basis of the mechanism of some drugs is enzyme inhibition. Meanwhile, some enzymes are directly used as drugs. The enzymes are applied in some immunoassay techniques, genetics and proteomics laboratory methods. In modern biotechnology, enzymes are used to produce plenty of products. This review article aimed to take a new, updated and comprehensive approach to several roles that enzymes play in various fields from diagnosis, monitoring and treatment of diseases to their application in medical, genetics and proteomics laboratory methods.