Ageing Biomarkers

Chronological ageing is the time that has passed since a person’s birth and is a fixed and objective measure for everyone. On the other hand, biological ageing refers to the changes and decline in physiological functions that occur over time, which can vary among individuals based on genetic and environmental factors. To better quantify biological age and understand if lifestyle interventions, drugs, or other factors can modify biological age, there is a need to develop and implement biomarkers of ageing.  A biomarker of ageing is a biological parameter of an organism that either alone or in some multivariate composite will, in the absence of disease, better predict functional capability at some late age than will chronological age.

The Healthy Longevity Translational Research Programme has already implemented in its preclinical and clinical pipelines several commonly utilized biomarkers of ageing that can be based on:

– laboratory measurements (e.g., telomere length, epigenetic clocks)

– phenotypic data (e.g., hand grip strength).

– Complete blood count, inflammation markers like CRP, or surrogate markers for the functional and structural status of organs such as creatinine (kidney function), bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase (liver and bile metabolism).

– Damage associated molecular patterns (DAMPs)- HMGB1, HSP70, S100A8/A9, FGF21-23, Klotho, Irisin, Redox status of albumin thiol

Furthermore, the Programme is developing new and more accurate biological clocks based on omics data from human cohorts, such as the Lipidclock (doi: 10.3389/fragi.2022.828239) and principal component-based clinical ageing clock (PCAge), which allows to identify patterns associated with healthy and unhealthy ageing trajectories.  (https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.07.14.23292604)

For more information, email us: jas.lee@nus.edu.sg