A recent study by Stanford Medicine researchers has revealed that around 20% of adults aged 50 or older, considered reasonably healthy, have at least one organ aging at a faster rate than the rest. This discovery, based on data collected from 5,678 people, could change the way we approach organ health and prevent associated diseases.
Published online on December 6 in the prestigious journal Nature, the study led by neurology professor Tony Wyss-Coray has revealed that a simple blood test could be the key to identifying rapidly aging organs. This advance could allow for treatments and preventive measures long before symptoms appear, marking a significant milestone in preventive medicine.
“We can estimate the biological age of an organ in an apparently healthy person,” Wyss-Coray said in a Stanford news release. “That, in turn, predicts a person’s risk of suffering from diseases related to that organ.”
The study focused on 11 key organs, including the heart, fat, lungs, immune system, kidneys, liver, muscles, pancreas, brain, vasculature and intestine. The researchers found that, surprisingly, only about 1 in 60 people had more than one organ aging rapidly. However, for those individuals, the risk of death was approximately 6.5 times greater than those without organs aging rapidly.
The study’s methodology involved analyzing thousands of proteins in people’s blood. Using commercial technologies and an algorithm designed by the research team, they identified nearly 1,000 proteins originating from different organs. Abnormal levels of these proteins were linked to accelerated aging of the corresponding organs and susceptibility to disease and mortality.
Additionally, the scientists trained a machine learning algorithm to predict a person’s age based on levels of approximately 5,000 proteins. The accuracy of the algorithm was verified in 4,000 nationally representative people, demonstrating its ability to estimate the biological age of organs with great precision.
Although the researchers observed some synchronous aging between organs, they highlighted that, to a large extent, a person’s individual organs followed separate paths throughout the aging process. According to Wyss-Coray, the gap between actual age and that estimated by the algorithm was significantly associated with the risk of death over a 15-year follow-up, with the exception of the intestine.
The results indicated that, depending on which organ was aging more rapidly, the risk of mortality over 15 years increased between 15% and 50%, compared to people of the same chronological age without the rapidly aging organ. For example, the risk of death increased 2.5 times for those with a rapidly aging heart, and older brains were 1.8 times more likely to show cognitive decline within five years.
The statement also highlights the association between accelerated aging of organs and specific diseases. Heart attack and Alzheimer’s disease, among others, were linked to accelerated aging in virtually all organs, while some diseases were associated with aging of one organ or a subset of organs.
In particular, aging kidneys were identified as significant at the population level. Hypertensive patients had kidneys that were, on average, one year older than their peers of the same age, while people with diabetes had kidneys approximately 1.3 years older. People with atrial fibrillation had hearts 2.8 years older, and those who had suffered a heart attack had hearts 2.6 years older.
If these findings are confirmed on a large scale, according to Wyss-Coray, a simple blood test could allow preventative treatment before diseases manifest. The research team intends to commercialize these findings and has already filed a patent application. Collaborators from the University of Washington, the University of California, San Francisco, the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and Montefiore Medical Center also contributed significantly to this groundbreaking scientific work. This discovery promises to revolutionize preventive medicine and change the way we approach aging and organ health in the future.
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