Atlas of the plasma proteome in health and disease in 53,026 adults

Deng et al., Atlas of the plasma proteome in health and disease in 53,026 adults, Cell (2025)        

Credits for Summary: Khyati Shukla Aakash Khurana

This study investigates the associations between plasma proteins and various diseases using data from the UK Biobank, which includes over 500,000 participants. Focusing on 53,026 individuals with blood-based proteomic profiling, the research aimed to uncover the role of plasma proteins in health and disease, identifying a total of 168,100 protein-disease associations and 554,488 protein-trait associations. The analysis revealed that GDF15 is a significant predictive protein for multiple diseases, highlighting its potential as a biomarker.

The methodology involved sophisticated statistical models, including logistic regression for prevalent diseases and Cox models for incident diseases, to analyze the relationships between proteins and health outcomes. The study also included subgroup analyses based on sex and age, as well as enrichment analyses to understand disease biology better. An interactive web tool was developed to provide access to the findings, allowing researchers to explore epidemiological associations, biomedical insights, and potential drug-repurposing opportunities.

Results indicated that 32% of disease pairs had approved drugs, while 22.4% had drugs in clinical trials, suggesting significant opportunities for drug repurposing based on identified causal proteins. A total of 474 causal proteins were linked to 37 potential drug-repurposing opportunities, emphasizing the importance of proteomics in therapeutic development. The study advocates for further research to validate these findings and explore the mechanisms linking proteomics to diseases, ultimately contributing to advancements in diagnosis and treatment strategies.