Medicine & healthcare

Study: Blood Test Can Predict Organs' Age, Disease Risk

Published DEC 8 2023

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The Facts

According to new research published in Nature on Wednesday, a blood test can reveal "the biological age of an organ in an apparently healthy person," predict which organs might soon fail, and help doctors identify new drug targets if an organ needs attention.
Newsweek
The test — which the researchers claim can check the biological age of the brain, heart, liver, lung, intestine, kidney, fat, arteries, immune tissue, muscle, and pancreas — looks for specific patterns of proteins in each organ to determine if they are aging faster.
BBC News
For their study, the authors analyzed at least 5K proteins in blood samples from 1,398 healthy adults, identified about 850 proteins that originated primarily from a single organ, and trained an algorithm to predict someone's age based on levels in the proteins.
Nature
The researchers discovered that one in five healthy adults aged 50 or older had at least one organ aging at a highly accelerated rate, compared to a cohort of their peers, with one in 60 participants having two or more organs aging rapidly.
Scientific American
Furthermore, it was also revealed that premature aging of internal organs in seemingly healthy people was linked with a higher risk of diseases and an increased risk of death within 15 years.
Independent
Senior author Tony Wyss-Coray, a professor of neurology at Stanford University, and lead authors Hamilton Oh and Jarod Rutledge, both graduate students, have co-founded Teal Omics Inc. to explore the commercialization of their findings.
News Center

Sources Split

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The Spin

Narrative A

This study adds to the growing list of blood-based detection methods — which are less invasive and more accurate — to predict age-related diseases and treat people before they even get sick. Though this science may still be at an early stage, it will certainly push mankind closer to remedying significant health issues.

guardian

Narrative B

Though longevity has become the hottest field in the biotech industry, successfully attracting high-profile investors and public attention, there must be skepticism about its promises. Aging isn't a disease or a problem but rather a complex, natural process for which there's no solution other than maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Ctech