Blood protein levels change from childhood to adulthood
Blood protein levels change significantly during childhood, and the differences between girls and boys become more pronounced with age. A new study by researchers at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Karolinska Institutet details these new findings.
“These findings highlight how important it is to take age and gender into account even in children and young adults when analysing protein levels in the blood,” says KTH researcher Sofia Bergström.
The researchers analysed blood samples from 100 participants in the population-based BAMSE cohort at ages 4, 8, 16 and 24 years. More than 5,000 proteins were measured, of which just over 3,500 could be tracked over time. More than half of these proteins changed with age even during childhood.
The most significant changes take between the ages of 8 and 16, the study shows. Many proteins increased sharply during this period, only to decrease again later, whilst others varied gradually from childhood to adulthood. The researchers also identified clear gender differences. In early childhood, these differences were few, but from the teenage years onwards they increased significantly.
“We found that dramatic differences in protein levels occur during development, with the most pronounced shift taking place during puberty. Many proteins also exhibit gender-specific patterns, particularly during and after puberty,” Bergström says.
"It was surprising that the levels of so many proteins differed between girls and boys in their teens, and even in their twenties.”
Used as biomarkers
Today, blood proteins are widely used as biomarkers to detect, for example, inflammation, hormonal imbalance, cardiovascular disease and metabolic disorders. Bergström says patterns in protein levels can contribute to the accurate diagnosis of diseases and a better understanding of disease progression. However, the study indicates that protein levels in the blood change over the course of a lifetime, making adult reference values inadequate for children and adolescents.
The work was carried out through the joint research centre, SciLifeLab. The results have also been published as a resource within the Human Protein Atlas. There, one can now access and view the longitudinal profile for thousands of different proteins.
"We hope this can be useful for further research into protein levels in children, both during normal development and in various diseases,” Bergström says.
Jon Lindhe ( jlindhe@kth.se )