More than 140 biomarkers could anticipate menopause

A preclinical study has identified more than 140 potential biomarkers that signal the transition to menopause. It has been carried out by the Eurecat technology center, in collaboration with the Rovira i Virgili University (URV) of Tarragona and the National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), and published in the journal Clinical Science.

The results “may open the way” to the design of interventions aimed at improve women’s health in the stage perimenopausal and postmenopausalaccording to Eurecat.

The perimenopausea phase that marks the beginning of irregular menstrual cycles and female reproductive senescence, may be accompanied by vasomotor symptoms such as hot flashes, migraines and insomniaas well as health alterations such as risk of osteoporosis, obesity and metabolic alterationswhich can be accentuated in postmenopause.

The study reveals that these metabolites in blood change when going from a regular menstrual cycle to an irregular one and that anticipate changes in the levels of progesterone, luteinizing hormone (LH), estradiol and cholesterol.

According to Julio Baudín, first author of the study, this finding “would make it possible to use them as potential biomarkers multivariate analysis of the alterations that can occur during menopause before the first symptoms appear“.

The analysis of these metabolic compounds has been made possible by the application of lipidomicsan omics science that enables large-scale study of cellular lipid pathways and networks in biological systems.

Antoni del Pino, head of metabolomics at the Center for Omic Sciences – a joint unit of Eurecat and the URV – assures that this methodology has enabled “a complete understanding of the various lipid species and their functions in health and disease.