A single hormone that emerges at a consistent level in men throughout their lifetimes can predict a range of age-related ailments, including bone frailty, sexual dysfunction, diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease, according to a new study.
Researchers from the University of Nottingham found that the critical function of the new insulin-like peptide INSL3 is constant over extended periods and is a significant early biomarker for predicting age-related illness. Their study, titled "The Leydig Cell Biomarker INSL3 as a Predictor of Age-related Morbidity: Findings From the EMAS Cohort," is published in Frontiers in Endocrinology.
What is INSL3?
INSL3 is produced by the same cells in the testes that produce testosterone, Science Daily reported. But unlike testosterone, which fluctuates during a man's life, INSL3 is steady, with the level at puberty remaining generally constant throughout a man's life, only slightly dropping in old age.
Moreover, INSL3 is a hormone that initially develops throughout puberty. INSL3 is significant to scientists because of its constancy and the young age at which it occurs. Compared to other quantifiable indicators, it is the first obvious and accurate predictive biomarker of age-related morbidity.
A person with lower INSL3 levels at a young age is likely to have lower levels of the hormone in old age, according to the study. If this leads to a higher risk of health issues, as the study implies, such risks might be controlled several years sooner.
INSL3 as Predictor of Men's Health
According to Science Alert, researchers collected blood samples from over 2,200 males across eight European regional centers to measure the amount of INSL3 in the blood. The men's INSL3 levels remained stable over time and varied greatly between individuals, allowing researchers to separate health concerns.
INSL3 levels in the blood, according to the researchers, are consistently related to the quantity and health of the Leydig cells in the testes; having fewer of these cells and less testosterone has also been linked to a variety of health difficulties later in life.
The team wrote in their study that previous work suggests early life nutrition might play a role in men's health. Still, genetics and exposure to environmental endocrine disruptors play a part.
INSL3 was associated with a higher risk of morbidity in eight of the nine morbidity categories that participants reported in questionnaires, including cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, with only depression being shown to have no linkage in the study.
However, most of the connections with INSL3 vanished, with the exception of high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease, when the researchers controlled for other hormonal and lifestyle variables, including BMI and smoking status.
Lower hormone levels were connected with seven of the nine comorbidity categories when researchers tested whether INSL3 levels in blood samples from a subset of males might predict health outcomes around four years later. However, this was done without taking into consideration other aspects.
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