Biomarker Related to Mortality Risk

By Todd Neale, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today Published: August 30, 2011 Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco and Dorothy Caputo, MA, RN, BC-ADM, CDE, Nurse Planner Action Points   Explain that an enzyme called cathepsin S appears to be a predictor of mortality, according to a study of older individuals living in Sweden. Note that cathepsin S, a cysteine protease, is involved in the early developmental stages of both cardiovascular disease and cancer. PARIS -- An enzyme called cathepsin S appears to be a predictor of mortality, a study of older individuals living in Sweden showed. Every 1-unit increase in serum cathepsin S levels was associated with the risk of dying during follow-up in two longitudinal studies -- one of men only (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.06, P=0.009) and one of both men and women (HR 1.03, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.07, P=0.04), according to Elisabeth Jobs, MSc, of Uppsala University in Sweden, and colleagues. In the study of men only, higher levels of the enzyme were also associated with greater risks of cancer-specific and cardiovascular mortality, the researchers reported online in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Jobs also reported the findings at the European Society of Cardiology meeting here./.../