SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – Do you wish there was an accurate way to predict your risk for heart attacks?
According protein biomarker discovery and clinical diagnostics company SomaLogic, based in Boulder, Co., that test actually exists.
For more, stream KCBS Radio now.
“What we’re doing here – I like to say – is akin to interrogating the body’s internet,” said Dr. Stepthen Williams, Chief Medical Officer at SomaLogic, who recently spoke with KCBS Radio.
A study published last October in the Nature journal described the company’s SomaScan as “a high-throughput, aptamer-based proteomics assay designed for the simultaneous measurement of thousands of proteins with a broad range of endogenous concentrations.”
Last April, The Guardian reported that SomaLogic’s test “relies of measurements of proteins in the blood, has roughly twice the accuracy of existing risk scores.” At that point, the test was already being used by healthcare systems in the U.S., said the outlet.
“Whereas genetic tests can provide an idea of someone’s risk of certain diseases, protein analysis can provide a more accurate snapshot of what someone’s organs, tissues and cells are doing at any given moment in time,” it explained.
Someone has a heart attack every 40 seconds in the U.S., according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s roughly 805,000 people who suffer from heart attacks each year and most (605,000) are first heart attacks.
As of 2010, more than 90% of people who suffer from heart attacks – also known as myocardial infarction – survived, according to Harvard Health Publishing.
DOWNLOAD the Audacy App
SIGN UP and follow KCBS Radio
Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
Related
Related
