Blood protein scores linked to future age-related disease
In 44,526 UK Biobank participants, 10-year disease incidence differed up to 20-fold between people of the same age with different scores.
Our read
Biomarkers- Studied:
- Preprint: cohort study of 44,526 UK Biobank participants
- What changed:
- 10-year disease incidence differed up to 20-fold between same-age people with different blood protein scores
- The catch:
- Disease developing before diagnosis could raise protein scores, rather than protein changes preceding disease
Editor of record: Boris Djordjevic · AgingResearch.News
Blood protein measurements from 44,526 UK Biobank participants formed the basis of an observational analysis of 31 age-related diseases. The researchers developed “disease aging clocks” designed to capture the part of disease risk linked to aging. These produced disease-specific scores expressed as age gaps in years.
Each additional year of gap was associated with a 24% higher rate of developing type 2 diabetes, 21% for chronic kidney disease and 17% for Alzheimer’s disease. Among participants who later developed disease, the gap was larger closer to diagnosis in 19 of 20 diseases. The authors interpreted this as a measure of disease stage before diagnosis rather than fixed susceptibility.
Why it matters
Measuring age-related disease progression before diagnosis may help select participants for prevention trials and monitor disease over time, the authors suggest.
Caveats
Results across all 31 diseases may not extend to other populations; a separate test in 501 Stanford participants assessed the Alzheimer’s clock. The preprint has not been peer-reviewed.
- Modeling and theory
- Disease aging clocks
- Type 2 diabetes
- Chronic kidney disease
- Alzheimer's disease
- Humans
The paper
Disease aging clocks in the plasma proteome stratify risk and track preclinical progression
Stanford University; Stanford University School of Medicine
Research Square, Nov 13, 2026, Open access, Preprint, not yet peer-reviewed
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