A study has shown that analyzing the proteins in a single drop of human blood can predict how high a person's risk is of developing 67 different diseases in the future. A joint research team from the University of Cambridge in the UK and Queen Mary University of London announced that by using approximately 3,000 plasma proteins in the blood, they can predict the onset of many diseases, including multiple myeloma, enabling rapid response.

Professor Claudia Langenberg, the principal investigator of the Precision Medicine Research Institute at Queen Mary University of London, stated, "Using advanced analytical techniques, we accurately identified the 'signatures' (representative features) of 5 to 20 proteins that are crucial for predicting various diseases." She added, "This allows us to detect early the risk of 67 diseases, including multiple myeloma, pulmonary fibrosis, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, motor neuron disease, and dilated cardiomyopathy."

 

Previously, it was mainly possible to predict the risk of high-incidence diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. However, this study is regarded as opening up broad and new possibilities for predicting various diseases, including rare illnesses. Many diseases could only be diagnosed after several months to years, but in the future, early and rapid diagnosis is expected to become possible.

Professor Rangenberg said, "The standard clinical practice for diagnosing a heart attack is to measure only a specific protein (troponin). However, it has become possible to identify new markers for screening and diagnosis from thousands of measurable proteins. This is very exciting." He added, "There is an urgent need for proteome research involving various populations and for effective tests that can measure disease-related proteins inexpensively." The proteome refers to the 'totality of proteins.'

 

The research team used data from the UK's largest-scale proteomics study, the UK Biobank Pharmaceutical Proteome Project (UKB-PPP). This involved measuring approximately 3,000 plasma proteins from over 40,000 randomly selected UK Biobank participants. The proteome refers to the "totality of proteins." The protein data is linked to the participants' electronic health records.

 

According to the research team, some protein signatures have shown similar or better performance than already tested proteins such as prostate-specific antigen for prostate cancer screening. Therefore, there is great hope for the potential of protein signatures to early detect various diseases such as multiple myeloma and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and improve prognosis (treatment outcomes).

 

The research team plans to first identify high-priority diseases and then evaluate the accuracy of proteome prediction in clinical settings. This study also involved the University College London in the UK, Charité Medical School in Germany, and the Berlin Institute of Health.

 

 

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Analyzing the proteins in a single drop of human blood,

Predict the likelihood of that person developing 67 different diseases in the future.

 

It means that you can really identify many diseases within a single drop of blood, right?

 

Every time I go to the hospital for a health check-up,

You end up drawing about 2-3 vials of blood for a blood test.

This is also included for this reason, right?

 

This is why you need to strengthen your vascular health.