Social relationships are essential for both well-being and survival in social species. Social isolation and loneliness stem from objective and subjective measures of social relationship quality and quantity and are increasingly recognized as public concerns around the world. The biology underlying social relationships and health, however, is largely unknown.
In the present study, researchers investigated which proteomic profiles are linked to social isolation and loneliness by analyzing data from 42,062 participants across 2,920 plasma proteins in the UK Biobank.
Ultimately, they identified 175 proteins as being linked to social isolation and 26 to loneliness, with an approximately 85% overlap. Many of the proteins were produced in response to inflammation, viral infection and as a part of the immune response. Over half were also linked to cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and mortality during a 14-year follow-up.
The team used Mendelian randomization analysis to identify causal relationships between social isolation and loneliness and the abundance of various proteins. The analysis suggested a causal relationship between loneliness and five proteins, including ADM, a protein that helps regulate stress and social hormones, and ASGR1, which is linked to higher cholesterol and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
"There are more than 100,000 proteins and many of their variants in the human body. AI and high throughput proteomics can help us pinpoint some key proteins in prevention, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis in many human diseases and revolutionise the traditional view of human health,” said study author Jianfeng Feng, Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Warwick, in a press release.
"The proteins we’ve identified give us clues to the biology underpinning poor health among people who are socially isolated or lonely, highlighting why social relationships play such an important part in keeping us healthy,” he added.
Sources: EurekAlert, Nature Human Behaviour
