Blood test could predict problem breathers’ deaths

Northwestern researchers found that a common blood test might be able to predict the risk of death for patients who have difficulty breathing.

The study determined that the levels of a specific protein could indicate the likelihood that a patient will die within one year of going to the emergency room for shortness of breath.

Researchers tested blood samples from 599 patients who had arrived in the emergency room complaining of breathing problems. The patient’s health was then followed for the next year.

According to the study, 91 patients had died by the end of 12 months. Of those who died, the level of the protein in the blood tested at the time of the emergency room visit was significantly higher compared to the level of the protein in the patients who survived.

The protein, called NT-proBNP, is released from the heart when the organ is stressed. High levels of the protein are often found after a heart attack, acute high blood pressure or heart failure.

The same blood test also is used to diagnose heart failure.

The study was co-authored by Dr. Donald Lloyd-Jones at the Feinberg School of Medicine and was published in the Feb. 13 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Damaged protein may be the link between diseases

A single mechanism might cause brain cell death and lead to diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s, NU researchers have found.

Scientists have long understood that damaged proteins are characteristic of all neurodegenerative diseases. What they have not been able to determine is if the various diseases are related or distinct.

Researchers found that the component of a protein that is responsible for Huntington’s disease functions by altering the cell environment. This change in environment prevents certain proteins from functioning and can potentially cause death.

The single toxic component, called polyglutamine, can interfere with the function of many different types of proteins and therefore can affect any number of processes taking place in human cells, according to the study.

It is this wide range of potential effects that implies the various neurodegenerative diseases might have a common cause, the study reported.

The study was led by Weinberg biology Prof. Richard Morimoto and published in the Feb. 9 online issue of Science.

Reach Joanna Allerhand at [email protected].