A pioneer research could lead to the development of an innovative blood test to detect the risk of developing leukemia. This is a study, published by Nature Medicine magazine, focused on myelodysplastic syndrome (SMD), a condition related to age and whose diagnosis is crucial for Avoid blood cancer and reveal aging guidelines.
The study has been carried out by the laboratories of professors Liran Shush and Amos Tanay, of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences (Israel). These centers carried out Exhaustive previous studies on blood biology to better understand the aging process And why some people become more susceptible to diseases over the years.
What would happen if a blood test could reveal the rhythm of our aging and the diseases that await us? ”The Weizmann Institute comment in a note.
Their research teams, composed of doctors, biologists and data scientists, have been specifically tracing the changes in hematopoietic stem cells, including the appearance of genetic changes in these cells in approximately one third of people over 40 years.
These changes not only increase the risk of blood cancers such as leukemia, but have also been related to heart disease, diabetes and other age -related conditions.
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Study focused on myelodisplastic syndrome
Shush and Tanay focused on myelodysplastic syndrome (SMD), a condition related to the age in which blood cells do not mature properly to become functional blood cells.
Specifically, the team led by Dr. Nili Fury, Nimrod Rappoport and Oren Milman, in collaboration with doctors and researchers from Israel and the United States, “showed that rare blood cells – which occasionally leave the bone marrow and enter into the Blood torrent– They contain diagnostic information about the SMD, ”emphasizes the institute in its note.
The researchers showed that, with a simple blood test and an advanced unicellular genetic sequencing, it is possible to identify the first signs of the syndrome and even evaluate the risk of a person to develop blood cancer, ”they add.
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More risk in men than in women
Diagnose the SMD and evaluate its gravity is crucial, since it can cause severe anemia and progress to acute myeloid leukemia, one of the most common blood cancers in adults. Until now, the diagnosis was based on the sample Bone marrow, a procedure that requires local anesthesia and can cause important discomfort or pain.
The researchers also discovered that migratory stem cells can serve as a clock for our chronological age, and that in men, their population changes before women, which increases the risk of cancer. “This finding could explain the greatest prevalence of blood cancers in men,” they say in their note.
Researchers are confident that the use of this technique for Diagnose SMD and leukemia It is only the beginning, and that in the future could be applied to a variety of other hematological disorders. The findings, says the Weizmann Institute, is already testing in a large -scale clinical trial in several medical centers around the world.
(With EFE information)
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