“Aging” can refer to different processes, making it difficult to define a single and highly generalizable molecule or method to measure aging processes. In turn, there are molecular, biological, functional, clinical, and phenotypic biomarkers of aging that lack consistency. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, who lead the Biomarkers of Aging Consortium collaborated with experts in aging across the world to systematically adapt and extend existing frameworks to classify biomarkers of aging and their clinical applications.
“As insights into the fundamental biology of aging expand, our work provides a robust framework for the classification and evaluation of biomarkers while documenting challenges and future directions in the field,” said study author Jesse Poganik, PhD, of the Division of Genetics at the Brigham.
Through classifying advantages and limitations of different biomarkers, the team also compiled a list of criteria that allow researchers to determine if a candidate biomarker might be feasible, valid, and useful for a particular context or application. Examples of key criteria for evaluation include age-sensitivity and generalizability across cell types.
“Once validated across different populations and settings, advanced omic biomarkers will equip us with powerful tools to monitor healthy aging, screen for diseases of aging, and identify longevity interventions,” said study author Mahdi Moqri, PhD, also of the Division of Genetics.
The authors also reviewed processes to validate these biomarkers analytically, through reproducible lab measurements, and clinically, through outcomes observed in human research. Finally, they review key challenges for biomarkers to be used clinically, such as differentiating those that assess chronological age from those used to measure rate of aging. They offer a novel framework to prepare a biomarker to advance towards clinical use.
“The ability to quantify biological age and determine how it is affected by interventions is a major advance in the field,” said Vadim Gladyshev, Professor of Medicine, the corresponding author of the article. “It is also critical to define the terms at the heart of what we study, including aging, biological age, biomarker of aging, etc., which may lay the foundation for future advances.” Poganik, Moqri, and Gladyshev are leaders at the Biomarkers of Aging Consortium.
Read more in Cell.
Journal
Cell
Method of Research
Literature review
Subject of Research
Not applicable
Article Title
Biomarkers of Aging for the Identification and Evaluation of Longevity Interventions
Article Publication Date
31-Aug-2023
COI Statement
M.M., V.S., M.P.S., and V.N.G. have filed patents on measuring aging. C.H. is affiliated with the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Universita¨t Innsbruck, Austria and an honorary esearch fellow at the Department of Women’s Cancer, EGA Institute for Women’s Health, University College London, United Kingdom. C.H. is also a shareholder of Sola Diagnostics GmbH and named as inventor on a patent on an epigenetic clock indicative of breast cancer risk. J.N.J. is affiliated with the Sticht Center for Healthy Aging and Alzheimer’s Prevention, Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC, USA and the XPRIZE Foundation, Culver City, CA, USA. J.N.J. also serves on the advisory board for the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR)’s Finding Aging biomarkers by Searching existing Trials (FAST) Initiative and the editorial board of Journals of Gerontology Series A Biological Sciences, eLife, and Experimental Gerontology. D.B. is affiliated with the Child Brain Development Network, Canadian Institute for Advanced Research and SocioMed Research Nucleus, Universidad Mayor, Santiago, Chile. D.B. is also an inventor of DunedinPACE, a Duke University and University of Otago invention licensed to TruDiagnostic. A.A.C. is a founder, president, and majority shareholder at Oken Health. I.B. is affiliated with the SOMT University of Physiotherapy, Amersfoort, The Netherlands and is a member of the clinical advisory board of Rejuvenate Biomed. M.W. is affiliated with the Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Universita¨ t Innsbruck, Austria. M.W. is also a shareholder of Sola Diagnostics GmbH and named as inventor on a patent on an epigenetic clock indicative of breast cancer risk. N.B. is the Scientific Director of the American Federation for Aging Research (AFAR), on the board of the executive committee of the Longevity Biotech Association, and advisor on the Board of the Academy for Health and Lifespan Research. M.K. is an employee and shareholder of Optispan Inc., a company developing tools to enable science-based personalized and preventative geromedicine. The Regents of the University of California is the sole owner of a patent application directed at GrimAge and other epigenetic clocks for which S.H. is a named inventor. S.H. is also a founder and paid consultant of the nonprofit Epigenetic Clock Development Foundation that licenses patents surrounding epigenetic clocks. A.B.M. is the Chief Medical Officer of NU. V.N.G. is a scientific advisor to Retro and Dior. M.P.S. is a cofounder and scientific advisor of Personalis, SensOmics, Qbio, January AI, Fodsel, Filtricine, Protos, RTHM, Iollo, Marble Therapeutics, Crosshair Therapeutics, and Mirvie. M.P.S. is also a scientific advisor of Jupiter, Neuvivo, Swaza, and Mitrix. V.S. is co-founder, SAB chair, and head of research of Turn Biotechnologies.