In recent years the blood tests have become a fundamental tool to provide crucial information for the diagnosishe monitoring and the prevention of various diseases.

These tests not only allow doctors to obtain a detailed view of the patient’s health status, evaluating parameters such as the levels of red and white blood cells, hemoglobin, platelets, electrolytes, glucose, cholesterol and various enzymes and hormones, but they can already detect diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s or stroke even in their early stages before symptoms are evident. This facilitates a early treatment and, in many cases, it can significantly improve the patient’s prognosis and quality of life.

For example, a Stanford University study has shown a simple way to study the aging of organs by analyzing different proteins, or sets of them, in the blood, which allows predicting the risk of diseases of individuals.

According to the study, published in Nature, approximately one in five reasonably healthy adults aged 50 or older suffers from at least one organ that is aging at a very rapid rate. The positive side is that it is possible to see in a simple blood test which organs in the body are aging rapidly, guiding therapeutic interventions long before clinical symptoms manifest.

Cancer

Cancer is the leading cause of death in the world. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2020 almost 10 million deaths were attributed to this disease, almost one in six of those registered being the The most common cancers are breast, lung, colon and rectum, and prostate.. Many cases can be cured if detect in time and are treated effectively. One of the main problems is the lack of rapid tests to diagnose the disease when it has not yet shown its face.

For years, research has been carried out on how to detect certain types of cancer through a simple blood test and last June, the University of Oxford announced the success of a trial by the United Kingdom’s National Health Service (NHS). Through an analysis for more than 50 types of cancer, two out of three cancers were correctly revealed in more than 5,000 people. The test also correctly identified the original site of the cancer in 85% of those cases. As the researchers explain, the DNA from cancer cells It can be detected in the blood in the early stages of the tumor.

Alzheimer’s

To this day, the detection of Alzheimer’s disease continues to be clinical and requires the presence of certain symptoms of cognitive impairment. However, research has also moved toward a possible blood diagnosis that could detect the early stages of the disease with an analysis.

A group of scientists in Sweden discovered that they can detect tau proteins in the blood, which can cause Alzheimer’s, and these begin to accumulate in the brain between 10 and 15 years before developing symptoms of the disease. The test can detect the presence of tau proteins with an accuracy of up to 97%, according to the study. If so, experts hope to use it to test people of any age who fear contracting the disease.

Parkinson’s

As with Alzheimer’s, researchers at Lund University discovered in September 2023 a new blood marker that could identify low levels of dopamine something that would be related to Parkinson’s disease. The study, published in the journal Nature Agingfound that the blood marker, DOPA decarboxylase (DCC) It was elevated in people with Parkinson’s disease, as well as in people with other diseases that result in a deficiency of dopamine in the brain. However, the marker was normal in other brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers even noted that DCC was elevated in people with Parkinson’s many years before they developed any symptoms.

Multiple sclerosis

The multiple sclerosis produces antibodies that can be detected in the blood before the first symptoms of the disease appear, which opens up hopeful avenues of treatment for this ailment, which affects 1.8 million people in the world, according to the World Health Organization.

Scientists at the University of California-San Francisco (UCSF) have discovered a precursor in the blood of some people who later developed the disease. These autoantibodies appear to bind to both human cells and common pathogens, possibly explaining the immune attacks to the brain and the spinal cord that characterize this disease, which can lead to a devastating loss of motor control, including the ability to walk.

Scientists hope that the autoantibodies they have discovered can one day be detected with a simple blood test, which would give patients great advantages when it comes to receiving treatment.

The first symptoms of multiple sclerosis, such as dizziness, spasms and fatigue, can be confused with those of other conditions, and its diagnosis is sometimes late and requires a careful analysis of brain MRIs.

Fibromyalgia

The fibromyalgia is a chronic disease which affects six percent of the world’s population and is characterized by generalized muscle pain and fatiguesymptoms that can be confused with other pathologies such as rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus.

A research team from the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) in Tarragona and the American universities of Ohio and Texas have developed a method that allows a diagnosis of fibromyalgia with “high reliability” from a blood sample.

The study, published in the journal Biomedicines, analyzed blood samples from three different groups: patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, with similar rheumatic diseases and people without any of these pathologies. The research detected patterns in molecules, amino acids, that would allow fibromyalgia to be distinguished from other diseases through a blood test.

A fast, accurate and non-invasive tool that could be easily integrated into the clinical environment to improve the quality of life of patients with fibromyalgia.

Osteoarthritis

The osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common form of arthritis and causes significant economic and social impacts. While there are currently no cures, the success of potential new therapies could depend on identify the disease early and slow its progression before it becomes debilitating. A recent study has shown that a blood test is able to successfully predict osteoarthritis of the knee at least eight years before telltale signs of the disease appeared on x-rays.

At work, published in the magazine Science Advances, Duke Health researchers have validated the accuracy of blood testing that identifies key biomarkers of osteoarthritis. They showed that it predicted the development of the disease, as well as its progression, as demonstrated in their previous work.
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