Aging clock could help figure out if our time is ticking

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2021-07-13 01:00

International

A new aging clock can identify people with an increased risk of diseases such as heart disease, according to international researchers who say this tool could help with earlier diagnosis. The team looked at blood samples from 1,001 people ranging from ages eight to 96 to investigate how signatures of inflammation throughout the body changes as we age. The team then used AI to develop a ‘clock’ they’ve dubbed iAge, which shows the levels of specific immune cells and proteins that fluctuate in the blood as people age. Those with an older iAge were more likely to develop multiple long-term health conditions including lowered immunity, heart disease, or become frail at a younger age, the authors found, and this could help identify those at risk of these diseases in the future.

Media release

From: Springer Nature

Aging: Inflammatory aging ‘clock’ can predict risk of age-related diseases and immune decline

A new aging clock can identify individuals with an increased risk of developing cardiovascular and other diseases, according to a paper published in Nature Aging. The tool, which uses blood-based signals that drive chronic inflammation throughout the body, may have implications for early diagnosis and intervention.

Although the interplay between the immune system and many age-related diseases is well-characterized, immune metrics that can be used to predict those most at risk are few and far between.

David Furman and colleagues studied blood samples from 1,001 individuals (aged 8–96 years; 66% female) as part of the 1000 Immunomes project. The goal of the project is to investigate how signatures of chronic, systemic inflammation change as we age. Artificial intelligence was then used to develop a new immune metric, or inflammatory ‘clock’ of aging, known as ‘iAge’. The clock is based on the concept that levels of specific immune cells and proteins in the blood fluctuate with age; however, for some, this occurs earlier, and is defined as their ‘iAge’. The authors found that people with an older iAge show these patterns of age-related systemic inflammation earlier and are more likely to develop multiple long-term health conditions including lowered immunity, cardiovascular disease, or become frail at a younger age. Age-related release of the chemokine CXCL9 — a protein that normally helps activate T cells in the immune system — was further identified as a key factor produced by the endothelium that speeds up the iAge clock. CXCL9 does so by promoting cellular senescence, the process by which cells are driven into a dysfunctional state, and impeding blood vessel function.

The authors conclude that the iAge clock offers a new method for identifying individuals at risk of developing age-related diseases and immunological decline, and suggests CXCL9 and other iAge proteins as potential new targets for their treatment.

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Journal/
conference: Nature Aging

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Stanford University, USA

Funder: D.F., M.M.D., C.L.D. and J.G.M. conceived the study, provided guidance and funding. J.C.W. and F.H. provided guidance for the experimental work. N.S. and L.C. conducted in vitro and in vivo mice and EC experiments. D.F., B.L., Y.H., K.N., A.A. and T.G. conducted deep-learning and statistical analyses. S.S.O., V.J., R.T. and T.H. provided guidance for the in silico analysis of experimental data. N.S., Y.R.-H., F.H. and H.T.M. carried out or supervised the human data measurements; T.K., A.G. and Z.K.-R. helped to edit the manuscript. C.F., T.W.-C., B.L., R.O., D.M. collaborated with the study in centenarians. N.S., Y.H. and D.F. wrote the manuscript. All authors approved the final version of the manuscript. D.F. and M.M.D. are co-founders of Edifice Health, a company that utilizes iAge. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

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