15 proteins in urine are biomarkers for spotting coronary artery disease (CAD)

A set of 15 proteins found in urine can distinguish healthy individuals from those who have coronary artery disease (CAD), a new study has found.

Coronary artery disease is the most common type of cardiovascular disease, occurring in about 5 to 9% (depending on sex and race) of people aged 20 and older.

In 2001, the death rate from coronary artery disease was 228 per 100,000 white men, 262 per 100,000 black men, 137 per 100,000 white women, and 177 per 100,000 black women. Over 1 million deaths per year worldwide.

Due to the ease of obtaining samples, urinary protein analysis is emerging as a powerful tool to detect and monitor disease.

The researchers next examined how predictive their protein panel was and found it could identify the presence of CAD 83% of the time. The panel had a sensitivity of over 98%, which means the test produced almost no false positives and thus inaccuracies are primarily misdiagnosing CAD individuals as healthy. The researchers also observed that the protein signatures of CAD individuals became more normal after exercise, suggesting these biomarkers can be used to both help diagnose CAD and monitor the progress of treatment.

FURTHER READING
A USB stick size device has been created for genetic screening in minutes for tens of dollar A similar cost device seems possible for screening for the proteins that identify coronary artery disease.

This is another major piece in the vision that I and many others have to transform public health with widespread use of frequent biomarker tracking to identify people in the early stages of disease or those just with the increased risk factors and transform medicine to cheaper prevention of disease development

This should also be used to change drug approvals by identifying earlier when a drug is having effect with improved biomarkers.

More papers by Anna Dominiczak

Cardiovascular disease statistics