Study of aging metabolites for remodeling of super-aging society

2021 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K20658
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Studies on the Super-Aging Society
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Kondoh Hiroshi 京都大学, 医学研究科, 准教授 (80402890)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-07-30 – 2022-03-31
• Keywords: メタボローム / メタボライト / バイオマーカー / フレイル / サルコペニア

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Metabolomics is one of newly-developed methods for detecting and analyzing small molecule metabolites by LC-MS and other methods, which is useful for elucidating the pathophysiology of diseases and searching for diagnostic biomarkers. Using our proprietary whole-blood metabolome technology, we searched for age-related disease biomarkers. 15 frailty markers and 22 sarcopenia markers were identified. The former includes mainly a decline in the antioxidants, while the latter comprises a decrease in the mitochondrial and muscular metabolites. Among the latter, 20 metabolites were ones elevated with renal impairment. Although the similarity of the clinical features between frailty and sarcopenia were noticed, distinct, non-overlapping profiles for metabolite markers for these two diseases were disclosed. Thirty-three dementia markers, classified into 5 subgroups, were also identified in our study.

Free Research Field

老年医学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「老化の多様性」に直面しつつある本邦では、寝たきりの手前の状態であるフレイルや、サルコペニア、認知症も増加している。本研究でのメタボロームからの加齢性疾患の検証は、新たな病態理解に有効であった。さらにこれを基盤として、将来、予後予測、診断マーカー、予防・治療モダリティへの応用が期待される。ひいては、高齢社会の再構築及び健康増進による国民および世界の幸福に寄与する。