09 Jan Our Biomarker Signature Can Predict How Well We Are Aging
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Dr. Paola Sebastiani
Paola Sebastiani PhD
Department of Biostatistics
Boston University School of Public Health
Boston, MA 02118
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?
Response: Human life expectancy has increased steadily in the last century and has led to a growth of the elderly population and a need for prevention strategies and interventions that promote healthy aging.
A challenge in assessing the effect of such interventions is ‘what to measure’ because people can age very differently from one another. Our study used 19 blood biomarkers that include for example cholesterol level and hemoglobin A1C to discover 26 biological signatures of aging in approximately 4,700 participants of the Long Life Family Study. These signatures are essentially patterns of values of the 19 biomarkers and we showed that one of these signatures is associated with better physical and cognitive functions, and reduced risk for disease and mortality compared to the most common signature in the study. Additional signatures predict varying risk for diabetes, cardiovascular and other aging-related diseases. We replicated these results in an independent data set. The associations of these biomarker signatures with physical and cognitive functions, and risk for morbidity and mortality support the conclusion that they capture different form of biological aging.
MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?
Response: The analysis of the biomarker signatures suggests that different ways of aging can be captured by changes at molecular level before disease, physiological and cognitive changes are expressed.
In addition, the use of multiple biomarkers in these signature shows that dysregulation of individual biomarkers can have different effects that depend on the levels of other biomarkers. This fact is important for prevention and treatment of aging related diseases.
MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?
Response: While the biomarkers signatures can be used to predict aging trajectories of individuals, they do not say how to change these trajectories. Future studies to discover healthy aging therapeutics are needed to help people aging well.
MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add?
Response: The results of the study need to be validated in additional cohorts before they can be used in clinical settings.
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Last Updated on January 9, 2017 by Marie Benz MD FAAD