The role of a hormone in men’s health has recently come to light: it is a biomarker for certain age-related diseases.
- Biomarkers can be present in blood, stool or urine.
- They are used in particular in the detection of certain cancers.
Blood contains valuable information about our state of health and its future. Scientists have proven this again recently. In the magazine Frontiers in Endocrinology, a team explains that it has discovered a new biomarker, making it possible to predict the state of health of men. These scientists, from the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, have found that an insulin-like hormone called “INSL3” can help estimate the risk of certain age-related diseases.
A stable hormone throughout the life of men
The research team analyzed blood samples from 3,000 men, with two samples taken four years apart from each. The “INSL3” hormone is made by the cells in the testicles that create testosterone, but it doesn’t behave the same way. If testosterone fluctuates throughout a man’s life, the “INSL3” remains stable. Its level remains similar throughout life from puberty to adulthood. Only in old age, its rate weakens slightly.
Furthermore, this study also showed that the levels of INSL3 in the blood vary greatly between men. But the most important thing is its link with certain pathologies. “The results show that the level of INSL3 in the blood correlates with a range of age-related diseases, such as bone weakness, sexual dysfunction, diabetes and cardiovascular disease“, explain the authors.
INSL3 level, a new biomarker of male health
As INSL3 rate is normally stable throughout life, this data could become a health assessment tool. “The discovery of the stability of this hormone is very important because it means that a man with a high INSL3 when he is young will always have a high INSL3 when he is older, they detail. But someone with low INSL3 from a young age will have low INSL3 when they are older, making them more susceptible to typical age-related diseases..” For these researchers, this could also make it possible to find ways of preventing the onset of certain diseases by acting early.
Predictive medicine: how to better prevent the appearance of diseases?
Ravinder Anand-Ivell, co-director of this study, is delighted with this discovery. “The holy grail of aging research is to narrow the fitness gap that appears between individuals as people agehe says. Understanding why some people are more likely to develop a disability or disease as they age is critical to finding methods to ensure that people live not only long lives, but also healthy ones.“This has a name: predictive medicine, the objective of which is to estimate, using markers, the risk of the appearance of certain diseases in order to treat them better, or even to avoid them.
