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Biological mechanisms of aging predict age-related disease co-occurrence in patients

Helen C Fraser1, Valerie Kuan2,3,4, Ronja Johnen5

  • 1Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, Institute of Healthy Ageing, University College London, London, UK.

Aging Cell
|March 8, 2022
PubMed

Insights

Targeting aging mechanisms can prevent multiple age-related diseases. Research shows aging processes are linked to disease co-occurrence in humans, offering new prevention strategies.

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Genetics
  • Epidemiology

Background:

  • Interventions targeting aging processes show promise in animal models for preventing age-related diseases.
  • Aging mechanisms may underlie the co-occurrence of multiple diseases in humans.
  • Simultaneous targeting of aging mechanisms could prevent diverse age-related conditions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the association between aging mechanisms and the co-occurrence of age-related diseases in humans.
  • To identify specific aging mechanisms linked to multimorbidity.
  • To explore potential therapeutic targets for preventing age-related disease clusters.

Main Methods:

  • Text mining of over 917,000 literature abstracts followed by manual curation.
  • Gene set enrichment analysis of Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) data.
  • Integration with clinical data from over 3 million patients.

Main Results:

  • Strong, non-random associations were identified between aging mechanisms and age-related diseases in humans.
  • Age-related diseases linked to specific aging mechanisms were found to co-occur more frequently than expected by chance.
  • Innate and adaptive immunity, apoptosis, and ERK1/2 pathway activity were associated with multiple aging mechanisms and diseases.

Conclusions:

  • Aging mechanisms contribute both individually and collectively to the co-occurrence of age-related diseases in humans.
  • These findings support targeting aging mechanisms for the prevention of multimorbidity.
  • The study provides a framework for understanding and potentially intervening in the complex interplay of aging and disease.
Keywords:
age-related diseaseagingaging hallmarksgeneticsmultimorbidity

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