Facets of individual-specific health signatures determined from longitudinal plasma proteome profiling
Proteins that circulate in human blood can provide important information about health or disease states of an individual. To gain insight into personal baselines and how protein levels vary over time, researchers within the HPA have studied the plasma proteomes of clinically healthy individuals during one year.

Today, many studies focus on finding proteins related to specific conditions or diseases while clinically healthy individuals remain largely uncharacterized. As part of the Swedish SciLifeLab SCAPIS Wellness Profiling (S3WP) program, a recent publication in EBioMedicine (Dodig-Crnković et al) describes the plasma proteomes of 101 healthy individuals studied by multiplexed antibody bead arrays. The protein data provided insights into longitudinal diversity and confirmed the existence of a unique molecular fingerprint for each participant. Almost half of the measured proteins were found to be stable across one year and modules of co-varying proteins were identified. Importantly, the study observed that short-term and continuous changes occurred in every participant, highlighting the need for longitudinal and individual-based monitoring for health assessments. Integrated with clinical data, this could allow for defining normal variation in healthy individuals and in the future assist in detecting transitions from a healthy baseline into a disease.

Tea Dodig-Crnković