Results for “proteomic aging clock”

PubMed2026

Aptamer-Based Platforms for Human Aging Biomarkers: Multiplexed Proteomics, Biosensors and Translational Perspectives.

Aptamer-based multiplexed proteomic platforms, especially the SOMAmer-based SomaScan assay, are widely used for large-scale discovery of circulating biomarkers relevant to human aging. This review summarizes 42 original research articles published from 2020 through 2026 in which aptamers or aptamer-derived biosensors were used to characterize aging-related biomarkers in human samples or clinically relevant human-disease contexts. The eligible literature falls into several thematic areas: whole-plasma and organ-specific proteomic aging clocks; inflammaging and senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) markers; cardiovascular, metabolic, renal, hepatic, musculoskeletal and neurodegenerative biomarker panels; and aptasensor platforms for detection of individual analytes. Only a small number of studies have compared aptamer- and antibody-based platforms in the same specimens; we tabulate these and show that median between-platform agreement is low to moderate, which constrains the pooling of findings across technologies. We also make explicit an interpretive point that is usually left implicit: because proteomic clocks are trained against chronological age, their correlation with chronological age measures fit to the training target rather than biological validity, and the informative quantity is the residual age gap. In the reviewed literature, SomaScan-based studies are concentrated in cardiovascular, neurodegenerative, frailty, and proteomic aging-clock research, whereas de novo SELEX campaigns targeting aging-specific epitopes and longitudinal human validation of wearable aptasensors were not identified. The main barriers to translation are cross-platform discordance, limited replication across ancestries, under-reported pre-analytical variability, cost, and the research-use-only status of most assays.

Humans↗

PubMed2026

An open benchmark and language models for AI in aging biology.

Over the past two decades, human aging has been characterized across DNA methylation, transcriptomic, proteomic, and clinical modalities, yet no benchmark evaluates whether AI systems can interpret these heterogeneous data types in the context of aging biology. We introduce LongevityBench, an open suite of 17 tasks spanning five biodata domains, and use it to assess 18 frontier AI systems from six developer teams. Despite recent advances in AI, no single model dominates all tasks, with omics-based age prediction being the hardest task regardless of scale. To test whether these gaps can be closed without frontier-scale resources, we fine-tuned a family of five multitask Longevity-LLMs on domain-specific aging data. The compact (0.6B-9B parameters) Longevity-LLMs matched or exceeded far larger frontier systems on LongevityBench, showing that general-purpose language models can be adapted to structured-omics tasks. We publicly release the benchmark, models, and Longevity Claw, an agentic research interface for aging researchers.

Aging↗

PubMed2025

Redefining ALS: Large-scale proteomic profiling reveals a prolonged pre-diagnostic phase with immune, muscular, metabolic, and brain involvement.

BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder with a largely unknown duration and pathophysiology of the pre-diagnostic phase, especially for the common non-monogenic form. METHODS: We leveraged the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort with up to 30 years of follow-up to identify incident ALS cases across five European countries. Pre-diagnostic plasma samples from initially healthy participants underwent high-throughput proteomic profiling (7,285 protein markers, SomaScan). Cox proportional hazards models based on 4,567 participants (including 172 incident ALS cases) were used to identify protein biomarkers associated with future ALS diagnosis. Top results were indirectly validated in two independent case-control studies of prevalent ALS (n=417 ALS, 852 controls). Functional annotation included cross-disease comparisons, gene set and tissue enrichment testing, organ-specific proteomic clocks, and the application of large-language models (LLM). FINDINGS: Five proteins (SECTM1, CA3, THAP4, KLHL41, SLC26A7) were identified as significant pre-diagnostic ALS biomarkers (FDR=0.05), detectable approximately two decades before diagnosis. Of these, all except SECTM1 were indirectly validated in independent cohorts of prevalent ALS cases, supporting their clinical significance. Additionally, 22 nominally significant (p<0.05) pre-diagnostic biomarkers were FDR-significant in prevalent ALS with consistent effect directions. Cross-disease comparisons with pre-diagnostic Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease suggested a largely specific pre-diagnostic ALS biomarker signature. Gene ontology and tissue enrichment highlighted early involvement of immune, muscle, metabolic, and digestive processes. Furthermore, analyses of proteomic clocks revealed accelerated aging in brain-cognition, immune, and muscle tissues before clinical diagnosis. Druggability and LLM analyses revealed possible therapeutic targets and novel strategies, emphasizing translational relevance. INTERPRETATION: Our study provides first evidence of ultra-early molecular changes in common ALS up to two decades prior to clinical onset, mainly affecting immune, muscle, metabolic, digestive, and cognitive systems. Our study nominates several compelling candidates for risk stratification studies and novel therapeutic targets for early intervention. FUNDING: Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development (CreATe) Consortium, Cure Alzheimer's Fund, Michael J Fox Foundation, Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research, University Münster.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2025

Redefining ALS: Large-scale proteomic profiling reveals a prolonged pre-diagnostic phase with immune, muscular, metabolic, and brain involvement.

BACKGROUND: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurodegenerative disorder with a largely unknown duration and pathophysiology of the pre-diagnostic phase, especially for the common non-monogenic form. METHODS: We leveraged the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort with up to 30 years of follow-up to identify incident ALS cases across five European countries. Pre-diagnostic plasma samples from initially healthy participants underwent high-throughput proteomic profiling (7,285 protein markers, SomaScan). Cox proportional hazards models based on 4,567 participants (including 172 incident ALS cases) were used to identify protein biomarkers associated with future ALS diagnosis. Top results were indirectly validated in two independent case-control studies of prevalent ALS (n=417 ALS, 852 controls). Functional annotation included cross-disease comparisons, gene set and tissue enrichment testing, organ-specific proteomic clocks, and the application of large-language models (LLM). FINDINGS: Five proteins (SECTM1, CA3, THAP4, KLHL41, SLC26A7) were identified as significant pre-diagnostic ALS biomarkers (FDR=0.05), detectable approximately two decades before diagnosis. Of these, all except SECTM1 were indirectly validated in independent cohorts of prevalent ALS cases, supporting their clinical significance. Additionally, 22 nominally significant (p<0.05) pre-diagnostic biomarkers were FDR-significant in prevalent ALS with consistent effect directions. Cross-disease comparisons with pre-diagnostic Parkinson's and Alzheimer's disease suggested a largely specific pre-diagnostic ALS biomarker signature. Gene ontology and tissue enrichment highlighted early involvement of immune, muscle, metabolic, and digestive processes. Furthermore, analyses of proteomic clocks revealed accelerated aging in brain-cognition, immune, and muscle tissues before clinical diagnosis. Druggability and LLM analyses revealed possible therapeutic targets and novel strategies, emphasizing translational relevance. INTERPRETATION: Our study provides first evidence of ultra-early molecular changes in common ALS up to two decades prior to clinical onset, mainly affecting immune, muscle, metabolic, digestive, and cognitive systems. Our study nominates several compelling candidates for risk stratification studies and novel therapeutic targets for early intervention. FUNDING: Clinical Research in ALS and Related Disorders for Therapeutic Development (CreATe) Consortium, Cure Alzheimer's Fund, Michael J Fox Foundation, Interdisciplinary Centre for Clinical Research, University Münster.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Early life sugar rationing and ageing related diseases, biological ageing and mortality.

Early-life nutrition may influence lifelong ageing, yet human evidence is scarce. Using Britain's postwar sugar rationing as a natural experiment, we examine its long-term effects in 64,809 United Kingdom Biobank participants. Exposure to sugar rationing during the first 1,000 days of life is associated with a 9% lower incidence of hallmark-related disease, with a hazard ratio of 0.91 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.88-0.94, and a 19% lower risk of all-cause mortality, with a hazard ratio of 0.81 and a 95% confidence interval of 0.69-0.93. Mediation analysis indicates that the survival association is statistically mediated, by approximately 60%, through differences in incident hallmark-related disease. Rationed individuals show 1.0-1.2-year younger biological ages across multiple clocks and lower organ ages, particularly in the lung, heart, and liver. Proteomic profiling identifies 47 altered proteins, with enrichment of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and longevity pathways and suppression of mechanistic target of rapamycin signaling. These findings are consistent with international recommendations to limit free or added sugars from the World Health Organization, United States Dietary Guidelines, and American Heart Association, and may inform policy discussions related to sugar taxation and infant food and marketing policies under the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

Humans↗

PubMed2025

Multi-omic underpinnings of heterogeneous aging across multiple organ systems.

Aging is the main determinant of chronic diseases and mortality, yet organ-specific aging trajectories vary, and the molecular basis underlying this heterogeneity remains unclear. To elucidate this, we integrated genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic data, employing post-genome-wide association study methodologies to systematically investigate the molecular mechanisms of nine organ-specific aging clocks and four blood-based epigenetic clocks. We uncovered genetic correlations and specific phenotypic clusters among these aging-related traits, identified prioritized genetic drug targets for heterogeneous aging, and elucidated downstream proteomic and metabolomic effects mediated by heterogeneous aging. We constructed a cross-layer molecular interaction network of heterogeneous aging across multiple organ systems and characterized detectable biomarkers of this heterogeneity. Integrating these findings, we developed an R/Shiny-based framework that provides a comprehensive multi-omic molecular landscape of heterogeneous aging, thereby advancing the understanding of aging heterogeneity and informing precision medicine strategies to delay organ-specific aging and prevent or treat its associated chronic diseases.

Aging↗

PubMed2026

Sex-specific biological aging clocks across organs and omics.

Sex differentially shapes aging, neurodevelopment and neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, most biological aging clocks (artificial intelligence-predicted age minus chronological age) were trained on sex-pooled samples and implicitly assume sex invariance.Here we developed 38 sex-specific biological aging clocks across 15 organ systems. We first demonstrate the importance of sex-stratified training for constructing sex-specific healthy normative references and then reveal marked divergence between female and male clocks. Key genetic parameters and Mendelian randomization results indicate that organ-specific aging liability and its relationships to cardiometabolic, endocrine and mental traits are configured differently in females and males. Proteomic analyses identify distinct, organ-resolved synaptic, immune, vascular and metabolic networks that differentially track female and male biological aging. In longitudinal survival analyses, sex-specific clocks predict whole-body systemic diseases and all-cause mortality in a sex-dependent and organ-dependent manner. Further analyses reveal sex-dependent associations between the brain aging clock and cognitive decline trajectory during a preclinical AD clinical trial. Sex-stratified clocks may offer distinct value by defining biological age against sex-appropriate normative references and revealing sex-dependent genetic, molecular and clinical signatures that pooled models may obscure. Meanwhile, sex-pooled and sex-interaction approaches remain valuable, as human aging and disease also share fundamental biological similarities between females and males. Together, these findings reveal sex-specific biological aging signatures in aging, AD and systemic health, highlighting the need for explicitly sex-stratified modeling approaches.

Journal Article↗

PubMed2026

Cardiomyocyte-Specific Plakophilin-2 Loss Is Sufficient to Induce Aging and Senescence of Nonmyocytes: Relevance to Arrhythmogenic Cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Pathogenic variants in PKP2 are the most common cause of familial arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. This study tests whether plakophilin-2 (PKP2) deficiency only in cardiomyocytes is sufficient to provoke premature aging and proinflammatory senescence in nonmyocyte, cardiac resident cells. METHODS: We studied mice with cardiomyocyte-specific, tamoxifen-activated loss of PKP2 (cardiomyocyte-specific conditional knockout of plakophilin-2) using conventional and multiplex imaging, cytokine arrays, epigenetic clocks, spatial transcriptomics, expansion and structured illumination microscopy, and correlative data analysis. We examined nonmyocytes and cardiomyocytes for premature aging and senescence. RESULTS: We observed senescence-associated heterochromatin foci in nonmyocytes, predominantly in cells positive for α-smooth muscle actin staining. Cytokines in media of nonmyocyte cells were consistent with senescence-associated secretory phenotype. Epigenetic clocks identified premature aging. Multiplex immunohistochemistry showed nonmyocyte cells in niches, intermingled with cardiomyocytes. Spatial transcriptomics showed overrepresentation of senescence-associated secretory phenotype-related transcripts, predominantly in myocyte-rich areas of the left ventricle. Senescence-associated heterochromatin foci and increased epigenetic age were not found in cardiomyocytes from cardiomyocyte-specific conditional knockout of plakophilin-2 hearts, although we observed structural features associated with premature aging. Cross-reference analysis showed correlation between the cardiomyocyte-specific conditional knockout of plakophilin-2 cardiac proteome and that of mice 5 or 6 times their chronological age, as well as transcriptional signatures of neurodegenerative diseases. CONCLUSIONS: Loss of PKP2 expression only in adult cardiac myocytes is sufficient to induce proinflammatory senescence in nonmyocytes, and overall premature cardiac aging. This is the first study to intersect cellular senescence and premature aging with desmosomal arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathies. We speculate that cell-agnostic molecular signatures, biomarkers, and pharmacology of senescence and of neurodegenerative diseases may be relevant to diagnose or treat PKP2 arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Animals↗