The Journal Science is widely regarded as one of the more respected publications in the scientific world. Recently a new marker of disease was highlighted with a strong association to the mysterious emergence of chronic renal disease or kidney failure. But then, further research discovered that this marker – also known as soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor or “suPAR”– may strongly be associated with risk for the development of chronic renal disease. Apparently if suPAR levels are low people with high risks genetically for the development of kidney disease do not develop it. But if they are high, apparently people develop chronic renal disease even if they don’t have the mutations.
However, now it has been discovered that suPAR may presage all kinds of risky situations such as heart attacks, diabetes, and sudden death along with chronic inflammatory illnesses. It seems that this marker is a signal that the immune system is quite angry and capable of creating situations that are not good in most organ systems. In other words, it is either some type of promoter or a marker of an accelerating situation.
Of course, now has come the industrialist effort to “scrub” suPAR from the system so it might not do any harm. Never mind the fact that it is simply a signal of something else going on. Sort of like cholesterol. It has nothing to do with the development of plaque in arteries, but it is a marker. So, let’s kill the marker.
Sooner or later, someone will identify an environmental factor that has more to do with the emergence of suPAR as a marker for increasing levels of inflammation in many different types of individuals. And, sooner or later, someone will take a look at the relationship between vaccines and suPAR.
Science 20 Apr 2018:
Vol. 360, Issue 6386, pp. 254-258
DOI: 10.1126/science.360.6386.254