Longevity & AgingScientists Develop Blood Protein Score That Predicts Years of Healthy Life
Researchers developed the Healthspan Proteomic Score (HPS), a composite biomarker derived from 86 blood proteins and chronological age, trained on 53,018 UK Biobank participants. Lower HPS strongly predicted earlier onset of cancer, diabetes, heart failure, COPD, dementia, stroke, and death over a 13.5-year follow-up. HPS outperformed existing proteomic and epigenetic biological age clocks at predicting these outcomes. The proteins involved are enriched in immune response, inflammation, cellular signaling, and metabolic regulation pathways. Validated in an independent Finnish twin cohort, HPS offers a practical surrogate marker for healthspan suitable for evaluating geroscience-guided interventions.
