Nature weighs heavily: scientists create gene map of human blood protein

June 9, 2018 / BIOON / - although plasma protein plays an important role in biological process and is the direct target of many drugs, so far we have not been clear about the genetic factors that control the individual differences in plasma protein level in human body Photo source: Wikimedia Commons in order to reveal the reasons for individual differences in plasma proteins, scientists from Cambridge University and other institutions, led by John Danesh and Dr Adam S Butterworth, conducted in-depth analysis of genes from plasma proteome in the blood of healthy donors in the interval study They found 1927 genes related to 1478 kinds of proteins, which is five times of the known number The related research was published in nature recently, entitled "genetic Atlas of the human plasma protein" To explore the effects of disrupting plasma protein levels, the researchers used a comprehensive approach that linked gene mutations to biological signaling pathways, disease and drug databases Results the researchers found that the quantitative trait loci overlapped with gene expression sites and disease-related sites The researchers found that there was a causal relationship between the protein biomarkers and the disease By linking genes and diseases with specific proteins, researchers have highlighted potential therapeutic targets that can guide existing drugs to cooperate with new disease symptoms and help solve the safety problems of drugs under development Reference: Benjamin B sun et al, genetic Atlas of the human plasma prototype, nature (2018) Doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0175-2