[Recent advances in organ-system-specific biological age]

Area of Science:

• Gerontology
• Biomarkers
• Genetics

Background:

• Biological age (BA) is a key metric for assessing aging and predicting age-related diseases.
• Existing BA models, particularly first-generation, primarily utilize chronological age (CA) and organ-system-specific data.
• Organ-system-specific BA shows promise in predicting disease risks within corresponding organ systems.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review methodologies for constructing biological age (BA) and assess organ-system-specific BA.
• To examine genome-wide association studies (GWAS) related to organ-system-specific aging.
• To propose advancements in BA development for clinical applications.

Main Methods:

• Review of first- and second-generation BA construction methodologies.
• Analysis of data from questionnaires, physical examinations, clinical biochemistry, imaging, and multi-omics.
• Exploration of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and Mendelian randomization.

Main Results:

• First-generation BA models predominantly used CA as a training phenotype.
• Organ-system-specific BA accurately predicts disease risk for the respective organ systems.
• Current research is advancing towards more specific and predictive BA models.

Conclusions:

• Second-generation BA models and GWAS are crucial for understanding organ system-specific aging.
• Developing organ system-specific BA provides a foundation for clinical applications.
• Further research into organ system-specific aging processes is warranted for healthy aging initiatives.