Detection of organ aging in blood

A study published in the Nature journal suggest that quantifying organ-specific proteins in plasma could help detect the health of human organs and predict disease risk and progression.

A group of researchers from the University of Stanford analyzed blood samples from 𝟓,𝟔𝟕𝟔 𝐬𝐮𝐛𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐩𝐬, ranging from young adults to the elderly. By analyzing blood samples, they discovered that each organ of our body could release a 𝐬𝐞𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦. These protein sets form unique patterns that are 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐬, such as the heart, liver, and lungs. They can serve as 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐬 for understanding the 𝐩𝐡𝐲𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 over time.

For example, the 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐧𝐞𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐲𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 were found to be 𝐛𝐢𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝟏 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞, regardless of their functional capacity. They also showed that in the case of 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝟒 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐞𝐫 more than the rest of the body, the subject subject was 𝟐.𝟓 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐝𝐢𝐚𝐜 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭 within 15 years. Interestingly, 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 was observed in 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝟐𝟎% 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐬 𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝. It should be noted that 𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫 from one individual to another.

Therefore, this study introduces a framework for modeling biological aging from a small blood sample, while highlighting the importance of 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐜𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 tailored to an 𝐢𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐮𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐟𝐢𝐥𝐞.