How much disease risk can be predicted from blood proteins?

A new study has found that analyzing the proteins in a single drop of a person's blood can predict their future risk of developing 67 different diseases. A joint research team from the University of Cambridge, Queen Mary University of London, and other institutions announced that using approximately 3,000 plasma proteins, they have been able to predict the onset of many diseases, including multiple myeloma, allowing for swifter response.

"Using advanced analytical techniques, we have accurately identified 'signatures' of five to 20 proteins that are crucial for predicting various diseases," said Professor Claudia Langenberg, director of the Precision Medicine Institute at Queen Mary University of London and the study's lead author. "This will allow us to identify early risks for 67 diseases, including multiple myeloma, pulmonary fibrosis, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, motor neuropathy, and dilated cardiomyopathy," she added.

 

Previously, risk prediction was primarily focused on high-incidence diseases like heart attack and stroke. However, this study is evaluated to have opened up a wide range of new predictive possibilities for various diseases, including rare ones. While many diseases previously required months or years to be diagnosed, it is expected that earlier and more rapid diagnosis will become possible in the future.

Professor Langenberg said, "Standard clinical practice only measures a specific protein (troponin) to diagnose heart attack. However, from the thousands of measurable proteins, we can now identify new markers for screening and diagnosis. This is very exciting." He added, "There is an urgent need for proteomic studies targeting diverse populations and for effective tests that can inexpensively measure disease-related proteins." The proteome is the "sum of proteins."

 

The research team used data from the UK Biobank Pharmaceutical Proteome Project (UKB-PPP), the largest proteomics study of its kind. This project measured approximately 3,000 plasma proteins from over 40,000 randomly selected UK Biobank participants. A proteome is the "total protein." The protein data is linked to the participants' electronic health records.

 

According to the research team, some of the protein signatures performed similarly or better than proteins already tested in screening tests, such as prostate-specific antigen for prostate cancer. Therefore, they are highly optimistic about the potential of protein signatures to detect diseases such as multiple myeloma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis early and improve prognosis (treatment outcomes).

 

The research team plans to select high-priority diseases and then evaluate the accuracy of proteome predictions in a clinical setting. The study also involved researchers from University College London in the UK, Charité University Medical School in Germany, and the Berlin Institute for Public Health.

 

 

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If we analyze the proteins in a single drop of human blood,

Predict how high a person's risk of developing 67 diseases in the future

 

You can really identify a lot of diseases in a single drop of blood, right?

 

Every time I go to the hospital for a health checkup,

You end up having to draw about 2-3 cans of blood.

This reason is also included ~

 

This is why we need to strengthen our blood vessel health.