Can a Blood Test Help Predict Your Death?
A new study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association and the European Society of Cardiology Congress discovered a certain enzyme that could be linked to both heart disease and cancer. By measuring this enzyme in blood, it could serve as an early predictor of who is most likely going to die from these health problems.
The study had almost 2,000 participants joined in two separate long-term trials where the researchers measured the level of cathepsin S, an enzyme involved in breaking up proteins. They followed the participants for 12.5 years and found that, “those who have the highest level of cathepsin S were more likely to die than those with lower or half of those levels.”
It is yet to be clear how cathepsin S might be related to heart disease or cancer, but this study is the first to find a marker associated both these leading killers of U.S adults. Overall, it is too early to know if cathepsin S will be handy in predicting who has the greatest risk, but already pharmaceutical companies are keeping their eyes on the progress.
Read the original article here-courtesy of Times Heathland
What do you think of this new study?
- Professional Medical
Comments 0