Can Blood-Circulating Factors Unveil and Delay Your Biological Aging?

According to the World Health Organization, the population of over 60 will double in the next 30 years in the developed countries, which will enforce a further raise of the retirement age and increase the burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, there is an acute issue of maintaining health and prolonging active working longevity, as well as implementation of early monitoring and prevention of premature aging and age-related disorders to avoid early disability. Traditional indicators of biological age are not always informative and often require extensive and expensive analysis. The study of blood factors is a simple and easily accessible way to assess individual health and supplement the traditional indicators of a person’s biological age with new objective criteria. With age, the processes of growth and development, tissue regeneration and repair decline; they are gradually replaced by enhanced catabolism, inflammatory cell activity, and insulin resistance. The number of senescent cells supporting the inflammatory loop rises; cellular clearance by autophagy and mitophagy slows down, resulting in mitochondrial and cellular damage and dysfunction. Monitoring of circulated blood factors not only reflects these processes, but also allows suggesting medical intervention to prevent or decelerate the development of age-related diseases. We review the age-related blood factors discussed in recent publications, as well as approaches to slowing aging for healthy and active longevity.

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Prospects for assessing the biological and immunological age of a person by blood factors

Science and Innovations in Medicine ◽

10.35693/2500-1388-2021-6-4-19-39 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (4) ◽

pp. 19-39

Author(s):

Nikita D. Kurgan ◽

Evgeniya I. Panova ◽

Lyubov V. Silakova ◽

Aleksandr M. Kaganskii ◽

Stanislav A. Rybtsov

Keyword(s):

Healthy Aging ◽

Risk Groups ◽

The Elderly ◽

Developed Countries ◽

Premature Aging ◽

Biological Aging ◽

High Tech ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

Age Related ◽

Blood Factors

According to the WHO, by 2050 in developed countries, the population over 60 years old will double. This will lead to a further increase in the retirement age and an elevation of burden on the health care system. Therefore, there is an acute issue of maintaining health and prolonging active longevity, as well as the introduction of monitoring for prevention of premature aging and age-related disorders to avoid early disability. The review aims to discuss the aging process and identify critical blood factors affecting or indicating progress in biological aging. The connection of biological age, the regenerative and immune systems aging with the shift in circulating blood factors have been evaluated. The concepts of "health and longevity hygiene" and the concept of "immunological age" are debated. Perspective methods of rapid and multiplex analyzes of blood factors are discussed, as well as the prospects for preliminary analysis of biological and immunological age at home with subsequent processing in high-tech centers to identify risk groups and monitor healthy aging. Approaches to protecting health, slowing aging and rejuvenating the elderly, maintaining healthy aging, and prolonging active life have been defined.

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Biological Age Prediction From Wearable Device Movement Data Identifies Nutritional and Pharmacological Interventions for Healthy Aging

Frontiers in Aging ◽

10.3389/fragi.2021.708680 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2 ◽

Author(s):

Rebecca L. McIntyre ◽

Mizanur Rahman ◽

Siva A. Vanapalli ◽

Riekelt H. Houtkooper ◽

Georges E. Janssens

Keyword(s):

Healthy Aging ◽

Machine Learning Algorithms ◽

Biological Age ◽

Wearable Device ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Accelerometer Data ◽

Pharmacological Interventions ◽

C Elegans ◽

Movement Data ◽

Age Related

Intervening in aging processes is hypothesized to extend healthy years of life and treat age-related disease, thereby providing great benefit to society. However, the ability to measure the biological aging process in individuals, which is necessary to test for efficacy of these interventions, remains largely inaccessible to the general public. Here we used NHANES physical activity accelerometer data from a wearable device and machine-learning algorithms to derive biological age predictions for individuals based on their movement patterns. We found that accelerated biological aging from our “MoveAge” predictor is associated with higher all-cause mortality. We further searched for nutritional or pharmacological compounds that associate with decelerated aging according to our model. A number of nutritional components peak in their association to decelerated aging later in life, including fiber, magnesium, and vitamin E. We additionally identified one FDA-approved drug associated with decelerated biological aging: the alpha-blocker doxazosin. We show that doxazosin extends healthspan and lifespan in C. elegans. Our work demonstrates how a biological aging score based on relative mobility can be accessible to the wider public and can potentially be used to identify and determine efficacy of geroprotective interventions.

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COMPARABILITY OF BIOLOGICAL AGING MEASURES IN THE NATIONAL HEALTH AND NUTRITION EXAMINATION STUDY, 1999-2002

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.1783 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S479-S479

Author(s):

Waylon J Hastings ◽

Daniel Belsky ◽

Idan Shalev

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Telomere Length ◽

Cellular Level ◽

Biological Age ◽

Effect Sizes ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Patient Level ◽

Age Related ◽

Level Information

Abstract Biological processes of aging are thought to be modifiable causes of many chronic diseases. Measures of biological aging could provide sensitive endpoints for studies of risk factors hypothesized to shorten healthy lifespan and/or interventions that extend it. However, uncertainty remains about how to measure biological aging and if proposed measures assess the same thing. We tested four proposed measures of biological aging with available data from NHANES 1999-2002: Klemera-Doubal method (KDM) Biological Age, homeostatic dysregulation, Levine Method (LM) Biological Age, and leukocyte telomere length. All measures of biological aging were correlated with chronological age. KDM Biological Age, homeostatic dysregulation, and LM Biological Age were all significantly associated with each other, but were each not associated with telomere length. NHANES participants with older biological ages performed worse on tests of physical, cognitive, perceptual, and subjective functions known to decline with advancing chronological age and thought to mediate age-related disability. Further, NHANES participants with higher levels of exposure to life-course risk factors were measured as having older biological ages. In both sets of analyses, effect-sizes tended to be larger for KDM Biological Age, homeostatic dysregulation, and LM Biological Age as compared to telomere length. Composite measures combining cellular- and patient-level information tended to have the largest effect-sizes. The cellular-level aging biomarker telomere length may measure different aspects of the aging process relative to the patient-level physiological measures. Studies aiming to test if risk factors accelerate aging or if interventions may slow aging should not treat proposed measures of biological aging as interchangeable.

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Exploring Epigenetic Age in Response to Intensive Relaxing Training: A Pilot Study to Slow Down Biological Age

International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health ◽

10.3390/ijerph16173074 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 16 (17) ◽

pp. 3074 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Pavanello ◽

Campisi ◽

Tona ◽

Lin ◽

Iliceto

Keyword(s):

Myocardial Infarction ◽

Age Estimation ◽

Healthy Subjects ◽

Molecular Mechanisms ◽

Biological Age ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Epigenetic Clock ◽

Age Related ◽

Epigenetic Age

DNA methylation (DNAm) is an emerging estimator of biological aging, i.e., the often-defined “epigenetic clock”, with a unique accuracy for chronological age estimation (DNAmAge). In this pilot longitudinal study, we examine the hypothesis that intensive relaxing training of 60 days in patients after myocardial infarction and in healthy subjects may influence leucocyte DNAmAge by turning back the epigenetic clock. Moreover, we compare DNAmAge with another mechanism of biological age, leucocyte telomere length (LTL) and telomerase. DNAmAge is reduced after training in healthy subjects (p = 0.053), but not in patients. LTL is preserved after intervention in healthy subjects, while it continues to decrease in patients (p = 0.051). The conventional negative correlation between LTL and chronological age becomes positive after training in both patients (p < 0.01) and healthy subjects (p < 0.05). In our subjects, DNAmAge is not associated with LTL. Our findings would suggest that intensive relaxing practices influence different aging molecular mechanisms, i.e., DNAmAge and LTL, with a rejuvenating effect. Our study reveals that DNAmAge may represent an accurate tool to measure the effectiveness of lifestyle-based interventions in the prevention of age-related diseases.

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COVID-19 severity is predicted by earlier evidence of accelerated aging

10.1101/2020.07.10.20147777 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chia-Ling Kuo ◽

Luke C. Pilling ◽

Janice L Atkins ◽

Jane AH Masoli ◽

João Delgado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Clinical Chemistry ◽

Accelerated Aging ◽

Biological Age ◽

Chronological Age ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Severe Illness ◽

Mortality Data ◽

Age Related ◽

Underlying Mechanisms ◽

The Uk

AbstractWith no known treatments or vaccine, COVID-19 presents a major threat, particularly to older adults, who account for the majority of severe illness and deaths. The age-related susceptibility is partly explained by increased comorbidities including dementia and type II diabetes [1]. While it is unclear why these diseases predispose risk, we hypothesize that increased biological age, rather than chronological age, may be driving disease-related trends in COVID-19 severity with age. To test this hypothesis, we applied our previously validated biological age measure (PhenoAge) [2] composed of chronological age and nine clinical chemistry biomarkers to data of 347,751 participants from a large community cohort in the United Kingdom (UK Biobank), recruited between 2006 and 2010. Other data included disease diagnoses (to 2017), mortality data (to 2020), and the UK national COVID-19 test results (to May 31, 2020) [3]. Accelerated aging 10-14 years prior to the start of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with test positivity (OR=1.15 per 5-year acceleration, 95% CI: 1.08 to 1.21, p=3.2×10−6) and all-cause mortality with test-confirmed COVID-19 (OR=1.25, per 5-year acceleration, 95% CI: 1.09 to 1.44, p=0.002) after adjustment for demographics including current chronological age and pre-existing diseases or conditions. The corresponding areas under the curves were 0.669 and 0.803, respectively. Biological aging, as captured by PhenoAge, is a better predictor of COVID-19 severity than chronological age, and may inform risk stratification initiatives, while also elucidating possible underlying mechanisms, particularly those related to inflammaging.

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A Non-Invasive Approach to the Bionic Eye

Encyclopedia of Healthcare Information Systems ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-889-5.ch124 ◽

2008 ◽

pp. 998-1003

Author(s):

N. Grossman ◽

K. Nikolic ◽

P. Degenaar ◽

C. Toumazou ◽

H. Yang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ganglion Cells ◽

World Health Organisation ◽

Medical Intervention ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

World Health ◽

Invasive Approach ◽

Prosthetic Implants ◽

Age Related ◽

Bionic Eye ◽

The Usa

According to the World Health Organisation definition for blindness, that is, visual acuity bellow 3/60 for the best eye on the Snellen scale, there are thought to be 38 million blind people worldwide (Delbeke et al., 2004). This figure is expected to double over the next 25 years due to combination of an increasing population and aging worldwide. There are additionally 110 million people who have severely impaired vision and are high risk of becoming blind. The most common causes of blindness are: cataract, trachoma, glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, age related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinitis pigmentosa (RP). In the west countries, cataract and glaucoma make up only 11% of the total causes of blindness. In these regions AMD and RP are prevalent eye diseases. AMD increases dramatically with age, so that (with about 2million cases in the USA) it is the leading cause of blindness among Americans of European descent (Friedman et al., 2004). The AMD and RP result in the loss of photosensitivity primarily due to destruction of the rod and cone photoreceptors. Medical intervention to date has been disappointing. There is no known mechanism by which the eye can self-repair. Anti-angiogenesis drugs can significantly slow down the progression of wet type AMD, but in most cases there is very little treatment. Even more significantly, none of the drugs are capable of restoring lost vision. The idea of using stem cells in therapies is still complex and may be many decades away from potential treatment. Prosthetic implants are therefore the only method at present by which we can offer a return of some of the lost vision. Here we present a special type of vision restoration based on the optical stimulation of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), which remain operational.

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PREMATURE AGING INDICES IN PATIENTS WITH MODERATE CARDIOVASCULAR RISK

International Medical Journal ◽

10.37436/2308-5274-2021-1-1 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 5-9

Author(s):

A. O. Radchenko ◽

T. M. Bondar ◽

A. V. Potapenko

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Cardiovascular Risk ◽

Cardiovascular Risk Factors ◽

Telomere Length ◽

Age Groups ◽

The Body ◽

Premature Aging ◽

Biological Age ◽

Associated Diseases ◽

Age Related

Aging is characterized with a gradual aggravation of organ function throughout life and can occur both physiologically and prematurely. With premature aging there is an early decrease in the adaptive mechanisms of all physiological systems of the body, there is a significant reduction in physical and mental activities, that contributes to the early development of age−related pathology. Genetic and epigenetic factors, as well as environmental ones can be the causes of different rates of aging. It is not possible to accurately determine the onset of old age by biological characteristics, because people with the same calendar age are not always the same as for biological one. To establish the association of age−related disease factors with the markers of premature aging and biological age in the patients of various age groups, a study was performed in the patients aged 25−44 and 45−59 years with moderate cardiovascular risk in accordance with the SCORE scale. The primary task for predicting and preventing the age−associated diseases is to identify genetic, molecular and cellular factors that determine the rate of aging and increase the risk of age−associated diseases. The role of cardiovascular risk factors in premature aging has been determined. It is established that the most important factors that lead to an increase in biological age and formation of age−associated diseases are the disorders of lipid and carbohydrate metabolism and level of oxidative stress, importance of which progresses with age. The relationship between cardiovascular risk factors and biological age, estimated with different methods, their influence on telomere length, that allows the designing of an algorithm to determine the markers of premature aging in different age groups for early and effective prevention of metabolic−associated diseases, has been established. Key words: biological age, cardiovascular risk, premature aging, telomere length.

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RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AGING INDICATORS, CENTRAL HEMODYNAMICS AND ARTERIAL STIFFNESS IN MEN IN THE EUROPEAN NORTH OF RUSSIA

Успехи геронтологии ◽

10.34922/ae.2021.34.1.005 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 39-47

Author(s):

Л.Б. Ким ◽

В.Н. Мельников ◽

А.Н. Путятина

Keyword(s):

Blood Pressure ◽

Arterial Stiffness ◽

Premature Aging ◽

Biological Age ◽

The Arctic ◽

Central Hemodynamics ◽

Middle Aged ◽

Functional Changes ◽

European North ◽

Age Related

С возрастом частота сердечно-сосудистых заболеваний неуклонно растет во всем мире. Проживание человека в суровых климатогеографических условиях Арктики сопряжено с преждевременным старением, более ранним и частым развитием возраст-ассоциированных болезней. По-всей видимости, эти процессы обусловлены функциональными изменениями крупных сосудов, состояние которых до настоящего времени не изучено. Цель и методы исследования - выявить корреляцию показателей старения с параметрами центральной гемодинамики и жесткости артерий, измеренными с помощью аппланационной тонометрии на аппарате «Сфигмокор», у мужчин среднего возраста, живущих на Европейском Севере России. Впервые отмечены положительные связи параметров периферического и центрального кровяного давления, аугментационного давления и аугментационного индекса и отрицательная корреляция времени возврата отраженной волны и амплификации пульсового давления с показателями старения, что указывает на возрастное снижение эластичности артерий. Также обнаружена отрицательная связь показателя субэндокардиальной жизнеспособности миокарда с северным стажем и биологическим возрастом мужчин. Результаты исследования имеют теоретическую значимость: они продемонстрировали потенциальное участие сосудов в патогенезе преждевременного старения и развития сердечнососудистых заболеваний. Практическая ценность работы связана с необходимостью разработки профилактических мер, направленных на контроль давления, снижение жесткости артерий и кардиоваскулярного риска у северян среднего возраста. With age, the incidence of cardiovascular diseases is steadily increasing worldwide. Living in the harsh climatic and geographical conditions of the Arctic is associated with premature aging, earlier and more frequent development of age-associated diseases. Apparently, these processes are caused by functional changes in large vessels, the state of which has not yet been studied. Aim and methods: to identify correlations of aging and biological age indicators with the parameters of central hemodynamics and arterial stiffness measured using applanation tonometry by the «Sphygmocor» device in middle-aged men living in the European North of Russia. For the first time, positive associations of parameters of peripheral and central blood pressure, augmentation index, and negative correlation of the time of return of the reflected wave and pulse pressure amplification with indicators of aging were noted, which indicates an age-related decrease in arterial elasticity. There was also a negative association of the subendocardial viability ratio with the northern experience and biological age. Theoretically considered, the results demonstrate the potential involvement of blood vessels in the pathogenesis of premature aging. The practical significance of the work is related to the need to develop preventive measures aimed at controlling blood pressure, reducing arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk in middle-aged northerners.

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SENESCENCE SECRETOME: BIOMARKERS OF BIOLOGICAL AGING AND POSTOPERATIVE OUTCOMES

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.370 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S98-S98

Author(s):

Marissa Schafer ◽

Xu Zhang ◽

Amanika Kumar ◽

Thomas White ◽

Elizabeth Atkinson ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Ovarian Cancer ◽

Aortic Stenosis ◽

Clinical Decision Making ◽

Adverse Outcomes ◽

Biological Age ◽

Postoperative Outcomes ◽

Gradient Boosting ◽

Cancer Case ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Age Related

Abstract Senescent cells drive age-related tissue dysfunction through their potent secretome, termed the senescence associated secretory phenotype (SASP). Circulating concentrations of SASP factors may reflect biological age and serve as clinically useful biomarkers of surgical risk and ultimately, surrogate endpoints in clinical trials. However, they remain largely uncharacterized. We tested associations between circulating concentrations of SASP proteins and biological age, as determined by the accumulation of age-related health deficits, and/or postoperative outcomes in a sample of residents in Olmstead County, MN, age 60-90 years (n = 115) and cohorts of older adults undergoing surgery for severe aortic stenosis (prospective; n = 97) or ovarian cancer (case-control; n = 36). Circulating concentrations of SASP factors were associated with biological age and adverse postoperative outcomes, including risk of any adverse event or rehospitalization within the year following surgery (aortic stenosis group) or admission to an intensive care unit within 30 days of hospital discharge (ovarian cancer group). Gradient boosting machine modeling revealed a panel of SASP factors that predicted adverse outcomes across both surgical groups better than biological age or chronological age and sex. This suggests that the circulating SASP is a robust indicator of age-related health status and may help guide clinical decision making. Furthermore, circulating SASP factors may be harnessed as a readily quantifiable biomarkers in senescence-targeting interventional human studies.

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Biological Aging Predicts Vulnerability to COVID-19 Severity in UK Biobank Participants

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igab046.2535 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 678-678

Author(s):

Chia-Ling Kuo ◽

Luke Pilling ◽

Janice Atkins ◽

Jane Masoli ◽

João Delgado ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Biological Age ◽

Biological Aging ◽

Assessment Centers ◽

Uk Biobank ◽

Logistic Regression Models ◽

Age Related ◽

Inpatient Settings ◽

The Uk ◽

Related Mortality

Abstract Age and disease prevalence are the two biggest risk factors for COVID-19 symptom severity and death. We therefore hypothesized that increased biological age, beyond chronological age, may be driving disease-related trends in COVID-19 severity. Using the UK Biobank England data, we tested whether a biological age estimate (PhenoAge) measured more than a decade prior to the COVID-19 pandemic was predictive of two COVID-19 severity outcomes (inpatient test positivity and COVID-19 related mortality with inpatient test-confirmed COVID-19). Logistic regression models were used with adjustment for age at the pandemic, sex, ethnicity, baseline assessment centers, and pre-existing diseases/conditions. 613 participants tested positive at inpatient settings between March 16 and April 27, 2020, 154 of whom succumbed to COVID-19. PhenoAge was associated with increased risks of inpatient test positivity and COVID-19 related mortality (ORMortality=1.63 per 5 years, 95% CI: 1.43-1.86, p=4.7x10E-13) adjusting for demographics including age at the pandemic. Further adjustment for pre-existing disease s/conditions at baseline (OR_M=1.50, 95% CI: 1.30-1.73 per 5 years, p=3.1x10E-8) and at the early pandemic (OR_M=1.21, 95% CI: 1.04-1.40 per 5 years, p=0.011) decreased the association. PhenoAge measured in 2006-2010 was associated with COVID-19 severity outcomes more than 10 years later. These associations were partly accounted for by prevalent chronic diseases proximate to COVID-19 infection. Overall, our results suggest that aging biomarkers, like PhenoAge may capture long-term vulnerability to diseases like COVID-19, even before the accumulation of age-related comorbid conditions.

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