If we look at thousands of proteins (i.e., signals) in the human blood, the protein most associated with chronic physical and mental illnesses is the **same protein** as the top marker for mitochondrial diseases: GDF15 When mitochondria cannot flux energy properly, the cell makes and secretes GDF15 in the blood to alert other cells Some highlight by Cynthia Liu in our group: - GDF15 is the top predictor for most diseases - GDF15 associated with diabetes is among the most significant protein-prevalent disease associations Based on p-value, GDF15 was most significantly associated with disease. - “GDF15 was associated with the most diseases, containing 205 prevalent and 397 incident diseases, generally acting as a risk factor except for three incident diseases (respiratory diseases affecting the interstitium, disorders of magnesium metabolism, and peripheral artery disease).” - “GDF15, similar to its high ranking with protein-disease pleiotropy, ranked second for protein-trait associations, boasting a substantial 428 associations.”Significant associations with many lipid metabolite markers. - Mental disorders like anxiety disorders, depression, and mood disorders, along with mental health-related traits, also exhibited substantial proteomic signatures including elevated GDF15 - “The fluid intelligence score and various types of dementia shared significant proteins such as NEFL and GDF15 (Figure 2G)” - “GDF15, the protein with pleiotropic effects, was causally associated with several autoimmune diseases, including ulcerative colitis and rheumatoid arthritis (Figure 6B).” Data from >53,000 people in the UK Biobank Full paper here: cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092… Resource to explore your favorite protein or disease/trait of interest: proteome-phenome-atlas.com