Health
Women’s heart disease risk could be predicted up to 30 years in advance with one blood test, study finds
Predicting a woman’s future heart disease risk could be as simple as administering a single blood test to screen for three risk factors.
That’s according to research published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Saturday — research that was also presented at the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Congress this weekend.
The study, which included nearly 30,000 women averaging 55 years of age, measured two types of fat in the bloodstream along with a certain type of protein with a blood test in 1993, then monitored the participants’ health for a 30-year period, the researchers said.
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“The strongest predictor of risk was a simple blood measure of inflammation known as high sensitivity C-reactive protein, or hsCRP, followed by cholesterol and lipoprotein(a),” lead study author Dr. Paul Ridker, director of the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, told Fox News Digital.
The study, which included nearly 30,000 women averaging 55 years of age, measured two types of fat in the bloodstream along with a certain type of protein. (iStock)
“Knowing all three predicted risks not just at five or 10 years, but at 20 and 30 years, gives us a road map for how to target specific therapies for the individual patient, rather than an overly simple ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach,” he said.
C-reactive protein (CRP) is a protein made by the liver that rises when inflammation occurs in the body, according to Mayo Clinic.
High levels of the protein indicate an elevated risk of heart disease.
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LDL cholesterol — also known as the “bad” cholesterol — can build up in the arteries and raise the chances of heart attack or stroke, Mayo Clinic noted.
Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is a type of LDL cholesterol that can also cause plaque buildup in the arteries.
“This is a large, convincing study that puts together three predictive blood tests that haven’t been looked at in this way before.”
Women with the highest levels of LDL cholesterol were found to have a 36% increased associated risk for heart disease compared to those with the lowest levels, the researchers found.
Those with the highest levels of Lp(a) had a 33% greater risk.
The highest levels of CRP put women at a 70% increased associated risk.
LDL cholesterol, also known as the “bad” cholesterol, can build up in the arteries and raise the chances of heart attack or stroke. (iStock)
Women who had high levels of all three measures were 1½ times more likely to experience a stroke and more than three times as likely to have coronary heart disease, the researchers found.
While most doctors measure cholesterol, very few measure hsCRP and Lp(a), Ridker noted.
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“It is a truism of medicine that doctors will not treat what they do not measure.”
The fact that a single combination blood test predicted risk 30 years later is “astonishing,” the researcher said.
“It is a truism of medicine that doctors will not treat what they do not measure.”
“It tells us how much silent risk we simply are unaware of, and gives us an opportunity to start preventive efforts far earlier in life,” he added.
Dr. Marc Siegel, senior medical analyst for Fox News and clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center, was not involved in the study, but said it is a “big step forward” in using a combination of blood tests to determine a woman’s cardiac risk.
“This is a large, convincing study that puts together three predictive blood tests that haven’t been looked at in this way before,” Siegel told Fox News Digital.
Women who had high levels of all three measures were 1½ times more likely to experience a stroke and more than three times more likely to have coronary heart disease. (iStock)
“Since inflammation can cause heart attacks, it is confirmatory that an elevated inflammation marker (CRP) conveys a 70% increased risk for heart disease,” he went on.
“LDL and Lp(a) have both previously shown an increased risk of heart disease.”
Siegel predicts that in the future, blood markers like these will be used in combination with artificial intelligence to determine the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Based on these findings, Ridker recommends that patients ask their physicians to specifically measure hsCRP and Lp(a).
“The time has come for our guidelines to change.”
Some patients will benefit from drug therapies to reduce inflammation and lower cholesterol levels, the researcher said. (iStock)
In Ridker’s experience, women tend to be less concerned about heart disease than men.
“Unfortunately, our traditional screening guidelines rarely identify at-risk women until they are in their late 60s or 70s,” he said.
“Yet prevention must start in our 30s and 40s for it to be most effective.”
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While prevention efforts should initially focus on a heart-healthy diet, regular exercise, smoking cessation and stress management, some patients will benefit from drug therapies to reduce inflammation and lower cholesterol levels, according to Ridker.
Based on these findings, the researchers recommend that patients ask their physicians to specifically measure hsCRP and Lp(a). (iStock)
The main limitation of the study is that the women who participated were health professionals, the researchers acknowledged.
“Yet in other settings, we know this is also true for men — and, if anything, an even greater concern for minority individuals,” Ridker said.
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The research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), and the National Cancer Institute (NCI).
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A new injectable therapy is showing positive results in reducing melanoma throughout a five-year period.
The personalized mRNA cancer therapy, called intismeran autogene, combined with the cancer immunotherapy drug KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab), is a collaboration between Merck and Moderna.
The results from the phase 2b KEYNOTE-942 study were presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago on May 27.
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After about a five-year follow-up, the combo drug was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone.
The researchers analyzed data from 157 patients with high-risk stage 3 and 4 melanoma whose cancer had been removed via surgery. The participants were split into two groups — one received the combo therapy and the other only received pembrolizumab, according to a press release.
The therapy was found to reduce the risk of melanoma recurrence or death by 49% compared to pembrolizumab alone after a five-year follow-up. (iStock)
The findings revealed that the combination group saw benefits that were “sustained and durable over time.”
Intismeran autogene is designed using mutations identified in a patient’s own tumor, with the intention of teaching the immune system what the cancer looks like so that it can recognize and attack it.
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According to the researchers, intismeran is “well-tolerated” with a “manageable” safety profile.
The most commonly cited side effects of the personalized mRNA vaccine plus KEYTRUDA were fatigue, injection-site pain, chills, fever and headache. The researchers reported no new long-term safety concerns and no severe vaccine-related adverse events.
The combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study — the final confirmation stage.
Patients with late-stage melanoma have a “significant risk” of cancer recurrence, according to an expert. (iStock)
In a Merck press release from January, Kyle Holen, MD, Moderna’s senior vice president and head of development, oncology and therapeutics, noted that this data highlights the “potential of a prolonged benefit … in patients with resected high-risk melanoma.”
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“We continue to invest in our platform in oncology because of encouraging outcomes like these, which illustrate mRNA’s potential in cancer care,” he said.
Dr. Marjorie Green, senior vice president and head of oncology, global clinical development at Merck Research Laboratories, also commented that for many patients with stage 3 or 4 melanoma, there is a “significant risk of recurrence following surgery.”
Researchers confirmed that the combination therapy is currently being evaluated in a phase 3 study. (iStock)
“As such, demonstrating the longer-term potential of intismeran autogene and KEYTRUDA to reduce the risk of recurrence for certain patients with melanoma is a meaningful milestone,” she said.
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The company cited encouraging five-year follow-up data and pointed to upcoming late-stage INTerpath trial results with Moderna in several hard-to-treat cancers.
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An accidental lab discovery has opened the door to entirely new ways of preventing the flu.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells, SWNS reported.
By targeting the specific molecules the viruses rely on, scientists found that they could block them from entering new cells and halt their replication altogether.
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Researchers say these “fundamental insights” into seasonal influenza highlight a clear path toward developing better preventive medications.
“The hope is that fundamental, curiosity-based research like this helps to pave the way for novel strategies to treat and prevent influenza infections,” principal investigator Dr. Emily Bruce, from the University of Vermont’s Larner College of Medicine, said in the SWNS report.
While investigating how influenza replicates, researchers discovered that different flu strains use completely different strategies to infiltrate human cells. (iStock)
While several flu strains cause illness, H1N1 and H3N2 influenza A viruses are the most common. However, current flu tests cannot differentiate between them, and clinical treatments are identical for both.
Although vaccines and antivirals are available, Bruce noted a “dire” need for better medications to stop the virus from spreading cell to xxcell.
“You don’t get sick when a virus is in one cell,” he noted. “You get sick because a virus replicates itself and goes into many more cells.”
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The study, which was published in The Journal of Virology, originally aimed to map how viral RNA segments are transported within cells to create new viral particles.
The team used H1N1 and H3N2 viruses isolated from the nasal passages of positive patients in 2022.
Clinical treatments remain identical for both primary strains of the flu virus. (iStock)
During the investigation, the team unexpectedly stumbled upon a cellular pathway that blocked the virus from entering lung cells, SWNS reported.
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The data revealed that when a specific human protein called Rab11B was depleted, H3N2 viruses failed to enter human lung cells. H1N1 viruses were completely unaffected.
Using reverse genetics, the team mapped this defect and uncovered a brand-new, H3N2-specific role for Rab11B during viral entry.
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This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way.
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“Viruses are like pirates from different countries hijacking someone’s ship,” Bruce said. “Different viruses, like different types of pirates, use different methods to get onboard.”
This discovery challenged the scientific assumption that all flu viruses enter cells the same way. (iStock)
“We had previously thought that all flu viruses used the same way to get into a cell, but we discovered that this is not true,” she went on. “H1N1 and H3N2 need different proteins to get in, and if you get rid of the right protein, a specific virus can’t get in.”
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While these findings identify a critical cellular pathway for viral entry, the study was conducted using isolated cells, the researchers acknowledged.
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Further research is needed to determine whether blocking the protein is safe and effective within a live, complex human respiratory system.
Bruce and the team hope to conduct further research to determine whether this Rab11B-dependency is a fundamental property of H3N2, or if it’s a trait unique to currently circulating flu strains.
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Eating processed meat like ham, sausage and bacon may be linked to a higher risk of certain types of cancer, according to new research.
While health organizations have already confirmed that processed meat can contribute to colon cancer, this study looked closer at cancers in the upper digestive tract, where the link has historically been less clear.
To understand these connections, researchers from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC), one of the world’s largest long-term nutrition and cancer cohorts, tracked the health and diets of 450,112 people across Europe for an average of 14 years.
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The study group included 131,426 men and 318,686 women, according to the study’s press release.
During the follow-up period, 876 people developed stomach cancer and 215 people developed esophageal adenocarcinoma, which is cancer of the tube connecting the mouth to the stomach.
For female participants, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk of developing the disease. (iStock)
Researchers tracked where the stomach cancers grew, separating them into the upper part of the stomach near the throat and the lower part of the stomach.
The researchers also sorted the tumors into two categories based on how the cancer cells appeared under a microscope: intestinal, which forms more organized structures, and diffuse, in which the cells are more scattered throughout the tissue.
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After adjusting for other lifestyle factors, the researchers found that for every extra 30 grams of processed meat a person ate per day, their overall risk of stomach cancer went up by 9%. Eating that same extra 30 grams a day was also linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma.
A standard single slice of regular deli-sliced ham or lunch meat averages around 28 grams, according to USDA data and nutritional tracking databases.
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken and turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach. (iStock)
An extra 20 grams of white meat, such as chicken or turkey, was linked to a 12% higher risk of cancer in the main body of the stomach, the researchers noted.
The study also revealed differences between men and women. For male participants, only processed meat showed a clear, statistically significant link to a higher risk of stomach cancer. For female participants, however, eating both processed meat and white meat was linked to an increased risk.
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These findings align with global health benchmarks, particularly those established by the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer.
The agency has long classified processed meat as a known human carcinogen, primarily due to its strong, well-documented links to colorectal cancer.
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However, health organizations have also consistently pointed to a potential, yet less definitive, relationship between these meats and cancers of the stomach.
Eating 30 grams of processed meat a day, or the equivalent to one slice of ham, was linked to a 13% higher risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma. (iStock)
Further scientific investigation is needed to confirm the findings and to account for other underlying risk factors, such as certain stomach infections, which could interact with dietary habits.
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A key limitation of the study is its reliance on self-reported diets, which can sometimes lead to inaccuracies in how participants recall their meat consumption over time, the researchers noted.
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The findings were published in the International Journal of Cancer.
Fox News Digital reached out to the researchers requesting comment.
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