163009 20251009133841.0 doi 10.1007/s11357-025-01784-6 sideral 145586 ART-2025-145586 eng Hernández-Bellido, Natalia A simple blood biomarker based on gene expression describes cardiovascular health-related biological age 2025 Access copy available to the general public Unrestricted Abstract The need to monitor the aging process as a risk factor for disease and mortality beyond chronological age (CA) has led to numerous investigations into the estimation of the biological age (BA) of individuals. However, the accuracy of BA estimation tools is often judged by their ability to approximate CA, questioning their value in capturing the variance in health status and thus correctly estimating BA. Their biological relevance is often assessed in relation to health outcomes or mortality, underexploiting their potential for real-time monitoring of BA. Furthermore, their complexity may limit their clinical translation to large populations. Here, we describe the gene expression-based age monitoring Clock (GamC), a simple biomarker of aging (BOA), and characterize its biological relevance with synchronous cardiovascular (CV) health-related functional data. GamC is calculated from the expression levels of three genes consistently dysregulated with age in blood (ABLIM1, CCR7, and LEF1). GamC shows moderate but reliable association with CA in three independent cohorts, supported by transcriptome-wide changes. It demonstrates specialized biological meaning, as it specifically describes current physical activity levels, but poorly correlates with autonomic nervous system function, both age-related factors associated with CV health. Finally, it expresses BA monitoring capacity by modestly responding to an effective exercise-based intervention in centenarians. In conclusion, GamC is proposed as a simple and affordable candidate BOA for reporting the individuals’ current CV health-related BA, thus promoting its broad translation and application into measures aimed at promoting healthy aging in relation to CV health, the leading cause of death worldwide. info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/B08-24R info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA/T39-23R info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MCINN/PID2022-139859OB-I00 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MICINN/PID2022-140556OB-I00 info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EUR/MICINN/TED2021-130459B-I00 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess by https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Hernández-Vicente, Adrián Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-6025-5070 García-Mendívil, Laura Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-2954-1068 Ramos-Marquès, Estel (orcid)0000-0002-9218-6062 Hernando, David Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-1462-4880 Cebollada, Alberto (orcid)0000-0002-3312-7759 Köhler, Ralf (orcid)0000-0002-0833-9717 Garatachea, Nuria Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0001-8374-9081 Pueyo, Esther Universidad de Zaragoza (orcid)0000-0002-1960-407X Ordovás, Laura (orcid)0000-0003-3982-1263 1006 245 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Fisiatría y Enfermería Área Educación Física y Depor. 5008 800 Universidad de Zaragoza Dpto. Ingeniería Electrón.Com. Área Teoría Señal y Comunicac. (2025), 17 pp. GeroScience GeroScience 2509-2715 3205138 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/163009/files/texto_completo.pdf Versión publicada 1851407 http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/163009/files/texto_completo.jpg?subformat=icon icon Versión publicada oai:zaguan.unizar.es:163009 articulos driver 2025-10-09-13:25:56 ARTICLE