Can Blood-Circulating Factors Unveil and Delay Your Biological Aging?

Abstract

According to the World Health Organization, the population of over 60 will double in the next 30 years in the developed countries, which will enforce a further raise of the retirement age and increase the burden on the healthcare system. Therefore, there is an acute issue of maintaining health and prolonging active working longevity, as well as implementation of early monitoring and prevention of premature aging and age-related disorders to avoid early disability. Traditional indicators of biological age are not always informative and often require extensive and expensive analysis. The study of blood factors is a simple and easily accessible way to assess individual health and supplement the traditional indicators of a person’s biological age with new objective criteria. With age, the processes of growth and development, tissue regeneration and repair decline; they are gradually replaced by enhanced catabolism, inflammatory cell activity, and insulin resistance. The number of senescent cells supporting the inflammatory loop rises; cellular clearance by autophagy and mitophagy slows down, resulting in mitochondrial and cellular damage and dysfunction. Monitoring of circulated blood factors not only reflects these processes, but also allows suggesting medical intervention to prevent or decelerate the development of age-related diseases. We review the age-related blood factors discussed in recent publications, as well as approaches to slowing aging for healthy and active longevity.

Acceleration of Biological Aging and Underestimation of Subjective Age Are Risk Factors for Severe COVID-19

“…A person's physical activity, such as the number of steps taken per day, is also considered a valuable indicator of biological age [14]. There are also studies assessing the "age of the brain" [15], the emergence of biomarkers of healthy aging [16], and biomarkers in blood plasma [17][18][19][20][21][22][23]. Biological age can also be calculated using telomerase activity and telomere length [24][25][26] or the degree of DNA or histone modifications [27,28].…”

“…A person’s physical activity, such as the number of steps taken per day, is also considered a valuable indicator of biological age [ 14 ]. There are also studies assessing the “age of the brain” [ 15 ], the emergence of biomarkers of healthy aging [ 16 ], and biomarkers in blood plasma [ 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 ].…”

“…Many studies point to a correlation between the severity of COVID-19 and calendar age, which, in turn, is associated with a variation in the concentration and diversity of immunity factors in older age groups [ 22 , 42 ]. According to data from China, older people, especially those with dangerous comorbidities, are at a higher risk of serious illness and death associated with COVID-19 than younger people [ 43 ].…”

Personal characteristics affecting the biological age of the individual

“…Biomarkers of aging include a group of key indicators that determine the frailty phenotype: low physical activity, slowness, weakness, exhaustion, weight loss, as well as indicators of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. Many authors associate biomarkers of aging with personality traits and habits, especially bad habits and addictions, which affect not only the frailty index, but also the immunological age of an individual, reducing immunity and accelerating aging [19].…”

Accelerated aging and psychological age of an individual as risk factors for COVID-19 complications

“…Показано, что такой психологический возраст связан с биологическим возрастом человека, а соотношение этих двух возрастов характеризует личностную зрелость человека, которая в свою очередь изменяется в критических, стрессовых состояниях [6,7]. Биологический возраст определяется состоянием молекулярно-биологических систем организма и связан с иммунологическим статусом организма [8], и он отличается от календарного возраста.…”