Clinical Biomarkers in Ayurvedic Therapy Monitoring

Abstract

Clinical biomarker monitoring is the methodological layer that distinguishes protocolised therapeutic deployment from unsystematic treatment. For Ayurvedic therapy entering European integrative-medicine clinical practice, biomarker monitoring has a specific role: objectively tracking response to intervention so that treatment decisions (continuation, adjustment, discontinuation) are informed by data rather than by clinical impression alone. The biomarker repertoire available for Ayurvedic therapy monitoring has expanded substantially over the past two decades, spanning conventional clinical chemistry, oxidative stress and inflammation biomarkers, immune-system markers, microbiome-based biomarkers, and integrated multi-omics approaches including the Ayurgenomics framework connecting prakriti to genomic and biochemical signatures. This study reviews 52 primary studies published between 2008 and 2021 evaluating biomarker monitoring approaches in Ayurvedic therapy contexts, grouped under five biomarker category frames: B1 (conventional clinical biomarkers), B2 (oxidative stress and inflammation biomarkers), B3 (immune-system biomarkers), B4 (microbiome-based biomarkers), and B5 (multi-omics integrated biomarkers). Each frame was scored with the Ayurvedic Monitoring Biomarker Index (AMBI). Conventional clinical biomarkers (B1) scored highest at AMBI 0.812, followed by oxidative stress and inflammation biomarkers (B2) at 0.786 and multi-omics integrated biomarkers (B5) at 0.754