Modest Reversal of Proteomic Aging via a Structured Program of Exercise
It is well established that greater physical fitness correlates with improved late life health and greater life expectancy. Here researchers report a modest decrease in the predicted age produced by a proteomic aging clock following a 12 week program of exercise. This is much as one would expect given what we know about the effects of regular exercise on long-term health, coupled to the point that most people in the wealthier regions of the world exercise too little and suffer the consequences in the form of faster age-related degeneration and a greater risk of age-related disease. Matters tend to improve when you take those people and have them undertake a greater amount of exercise.
Biological aging varies between individuals and may be influenced by health behaviors. Using data from 45,438 UK Biobank participants, we found that a higher proteomic aging score (ProtAgeGap) was linked to lower physical activity and increased risk of type 2 diabetes. The UK Biobank cohort included both men and women. In a 12-week supervised exercise study (MyoGlu, NCT01803568) in 26 men, ProtAgeGap decreased by the equivalent of 10 months.
While most of the 204 proteins in the score remained stable, some, like CLEC14A, changed with exercise and were linked to improved insulin sensitivity. Transcriptomic data from muscle and fat tissue supported these protein-level changes, highlighting pathways, such as PI3K-Akt and MAPk signaling, involved in tissue remodeling and metabolism. Our findings suggest that while proteomic aging is mostly stable, it can be modestly reversed by exercise. Specific proteins within the signature may act as sensitive indicators of metabolic adaptation, supporting the idea that proteomic aging is a modifiable marker linked to lifestyle and disease risk.