Undulating changes in human plasma proteome profiles across the lifespan are linked to disease

Abstract

Aging is the predominant risk factor for numerous chronic diseases that limit healthspan. Mechanisms of aging are thus increasingly recognized as therapeutic targets. Blood from young mice reverses aspects of aging and disease across multiple tissues, pointing to the intriguing possibility that age-related molecular changes in blood can provide novel insight into disease biology. We measured 2,925 plasma proteins from 4,331 young adults to nonagenarians and developed a novel bioinformatics approach which uncovered profound non-linear alterations in the human plasma proteome with age. Waves of changes in the proteome in the fourth, seventh, and eighth decades of life reflected distinct biological pathways, and revealed differential associations with the genome and proteome of age-related diseases and phenotypic traits. This new approach to the study of aging led to the identification of unexpected signatures and pathways of aging and disease and offers potential pathways for aging interventions.