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REVIEW article

Front. Aging
Sec. Genetics, Genomics and Epigenomics of Aging
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fragi.2024.1487260

Critical Review of Aging Clocks and Factors That May Influence the Pace of Aging

Provisionally accepted
Mildred Min Mildred Min 1,2,3Caitlin Egli Caitlin Egli 2,3,4Ajay S Dulai Ajay S Dulai 2,3Raja K Sivamani Raja K Sivamani 1,2,3,5,6*
  • 1 California Northstate University, Elk Grove, United States
  • 2 Integrative Research Institute, Sacramento, United States
  • 3 Integrative Skin Science and Research, Sacramento, United States
  • 4 St. George's University, St. George's, Grenada
  • 5 Pacific Skin Institute, Sacramento, United States
  • 6 University of California, Davis, Davis, California, United States

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background and Objectives: Aging clocks are computational models designed to measure biological age and aging rate based on age-related markers including epigenetic, proteomic, and immunomic changes, gut and skin microbiota, among others. In this narrative review, we aim to discuss the currently available aging clocks, ranging from epigenetic aging clocks to visual skin aging clocks. Methods: We performed a literature search on PubMed/MEDLINE databases with keywords including: “aging clock”, “aging”, “biological age”, “chronological age”, “epigenetic”, “proteomic”, “microbiome”, “telomere”, “metabolic”, “inflammation”, “glycomic”, “lifestyle”, “nutrition”, “diet”, “exercise”, “psychosocial”, and “technology”. Results: Notably, several CpG regions, plasma proteins, inflammatory and immune biomarkers, microbiome shifts, neuroimaging changes, and visual skin aging parameters demonstrated roles in aging and aging clock predictions. Further analysis on the most predictive CpGs and biomarkers is warranted. Limitations of aging clocks include technical noise which may be corrected with additional statistical techniques, and the diversity and applicability of samples utilized. Conclusions: Aging clocks have significant therapeutic potential to better understand aging and the influence of chronic inflammation and diseases in an expanding older population.

    Keywords: Aging clock, PACE, Aging, epigenetic, biological age, microbiome, proteomic including: "aging clock", "aging"

    Received: 27 Aug 2024; Accepted: 29 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Min, Egli, Dulai and Sivamani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Raja K Sivamani, Integrative Research Institute, Sacramento, United States

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.