TABLE 2.
Frequently mentioned potential “research lab” biomarkers based on non-epigenetic measurements.
| Potential biomarkers | Material | Methods | Age linked processes# | e-score | rc-score* | c-score |
| Telomere length (TL): | Morbidity, mortality, cell stress | 191 | 932 | |||
| Average TL | DNA | Q-PCR, TRF, TCA | – | ** | ||
| TL structure | DNA | Q-FISH, Flow-FISH | — | ** | ||
| Shortest TL | DNA | STELA, TeSLA | — | ** | ||
| DNA damage | DNA | Various methods | Morbidity, mortality | – | 174 | 713 |
| Reactive oxygen species (ROS) | Tissue mitochondria | Various methods | Morbidity, cell stress, DNA/protein damage | — | 168 | 712 |
| Mitochondrial dysfunction | living cells, mitochondrial DNA | Various methods | Morbidity, mortality, neurodegenerative diseases | — | 86 | 289 |
| EVs (extracellular vesicles) | blood/plasma, liquor, cell culture supernatant | Immuno-histochemistry Western Blot, FACS | Cellular senescence, cancer | — | 65 | 194 |
| Autophagy | cells, cell extract | Electron microscopy immunoblotting flow cytometry | Morbidity, cancer, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease | — | 46 | 207 |
| Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) | blood/serum | ELISA | Inflammation, fibrosis, cellular senescence, cancer | – | 45 | 315 |
| Telomerase activity | cell extract, DNA | PCR-ELIDA, TRAP | Morbidity, mortality, tumor progression | — | 41 | 169 |
| Gut microbiome | fecal specimen | Next generation sequencing | Morbidity, mortality | – | 29 | 101 |
| α-Klotho | blood/plasma tissue | Immuno-histochemistry ELISA | Morbidity, mortality, renal function | – | 20 | 107 |
| Adiponectin | blood/plasma blood/EDTA | ELISA | Morbidity, mortality, frailty, metabolic syndrome, liver cirrhosis, diabetes type 2 | - | 14 | 217 |
| Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) | blood/serum | ELISA immuno-histochemistry PCR | Morbidity, mortality, inflammation, cancer | – | 12 | 112 |
| Growth differentiation factor 15 (GDF15) | blood/plasma | Proteomics immunoassays | Morbidity, organ damage (liver, heart, kidney) | – | 12 | 63 |
| Sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) | blood/serum | ELISA immuno-histochemistry PCR | Morbidity, mortality, diabetic risk, arthritis | – | 4 | 50 |
| Growth differentiation factor 11 (GDF11) | blood/plasma | Proteomics immunoassays | Morbidity | – | 3 | 22 |
| CXCL1 | blood/plasma | Immunoassays, ELISA | Immune response, inflammation, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease | – | 0 | 15 |
| Skin microbiome | skin swab | Next generation sequencing | Morbidity, mortality | – | 0 | 4 |
* rows are sorted by rc-score. ** included in the c-score of TL. # frequently mentioned general or disease-linked processes.