The biological age of individual organs may be a good predictor of disease risk, a new study suggests. Image credit: LumiNola/Getty Images.
- Chronological age refers to how many years we
have been alive, while biological age is how old your cells and organs
are.
- Experts suggest that the biological age of the
whole person, or of individual organs, is a better indicator of health and
aging than chronological age.
- Now, a study has found that a blood test that
detects the biological age of organs can predict the risk of health
conditions developing many years later.
- The researchers suggest that this type of test
could be crucial in helping to predict and prevent many diseases,
including heart disease and some cancers.
Researchers think about a person’s age in two different ways:
1. chronological age is the number of years since a
person’s birth and is the age a person identifies with
2. biological age is a measure of how old the cells and
organs are, and it can vary widely from a person’s chronological age, depending
on their genetics and lifestyle.
Biological age can also vary within a person, with
some organs biologically older than others.
Chronological aging is linear, and cannot be
accelerated or delayed. However, biological aging may be faster or slower than
chronological aging, depending on genetics and environmental factors.
The difference between the two measures is often
referred to as an age gap. A negative age gap, with biological
age less than chronological age, represents healthy or delayed aging, whereas a
positive age gap indicates that a person is aging faster than expected.
Now, a team led by researchers at University College
London in the United kingdom has found that a blood test to detect the
biological age of organs can predict the risk of health conditions years, or
even decades later.
Their study, published in
Cheng-Han Chen, MD, a board-certified
interventional cardiologist and medical director of the Structural Heart
Program at MemorialCare Saddleback Medical Center in Laguna Hills, CA, who was
not involved in this research, explained for Medical
News Today that
“This long-term
observational study found an association between ‘organ age’ as assessed by the
level of various proteins in the blood, and future risk of developing different
diseases. This type of analysis could potentially provide a method of risk
stratification in order to help address and hopefully modify someone’s chance
of developing a certain disease.”
Blood
test can measure biological age of organs
The researchers recruited 6,235 adults from the Whitehall II study of
U.K. government employees. They assessed their health from electronic health
records at baseline and at follow up 20 years later.
All participants gave blood samples between April 1997
and January 1999, when they were aged between 45 and 69 years old. Researchers
then carried out
From these protein data, they identified age gaps in
nine different organs or organ systems — the arteries, brain, heart, immune
system, intestine, kidney, live, lung, and pancreas — as well as for the whole
person.
Using these data, the researchers then looked at 45
age-related diseases, to determine whether age gaps in any organs affected the
risk of developing these diseases.
They
noted that biological aging progressed at varying rates in different organs
within the same individual, and that individuals with any fast-aging organ
faced an increased risk of 30 out of the 45 age-related diseases examined.
How organ age
gaps may predict future disease
Individuals who had larger organ age gaps were at risk for
developing diseases later in life. For example, a higher heart-age gap was
linked with a higher risk of heart disease later in life.
However,
the researchers also found that advanced aging in a specific organ increased
the risk of multi organ illnesses, and that rapid aging in more than one organ
increased the risk of disease in a single organ. And the effects of cellular
aging were widespread, with faster-aging organs associated with greater
mortality.
Jagdish Khubchandani, PhD,
professor of public health at New Mexico State University, noot involved in
this study, explained how organs might affect each other.
“For me, the most interesting finding was on how aging
of one organ affects disease probability and aging of other organs,“ he told MNT.
“It makes some sense as these organ functions affect
each other,“ Khubchandani added. “Also, there are shared immune, genetic,
vascular, and inflammatory mechanisms. But, from a practice standpoint, these
interrelationships will make preventive practice and therapy development
challenging. Still, this was a much needed investigation with many novel
findings.”
How is organ aging linked to neurodegeneration?
Age gaps observed within the immune system were strongly
associated with later development of dementia,
and a rapidly aging intestine was the strongest risk factor for Parkinson’s
disease.
These findings reinforce earlier studies that have linked
inflammatory markers in the blood with higher dementia risk, and a
“The study interestingly
found an association between proteins associated with inflammation, and future
risk of dementia. This suggests a relationship between inflammatory processes
and neurodegenerative disorders, something that should be the subject of
further research.”– Cheng-Han Chen, MD
Further
research needed to verify potential
Speaking to MNT, Sebnem
Unluisler, Chief Longevity Officer and Genetic Engineer at the
London Regenerative Institute in the U.K., who was likewise not involved in
this research, noted that:
“This type of blood test
could be a game-changer in preventive medicine, particularly in
longevity-focused healthcare. By identifying organ-specific aging early,
clinicians could implement targeted interventions — such as lifestyle
modifications, medications, or regenerative therapies — before disease
manifests.”
The study authors also emphasize that their research
has limitations. As an observational study, it cannot prove causation, the
cohort was, on the whole, healthier than the general population, and incidence
rates of some diseases were low, so it was hard to confirm associations.
Although tests like this could have great potential,
there are issues to be overcome, as both Unluisler and Khubchandani told us.
“While promising, this test will need further
validation and standardization before clinical implementation. Additionally,
ethical considerations arise regarding how to counsel patients who learn their
organs are aging prematurely — particularly in cases where interventions are
limited. Nonetheless, this study highlights the growing potential of proteomics
in longevity medicine and precision healthcare,” Unluisler said.
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