| Title: | Imaging-based organ-specific aging clock predicts human diseases and mortality |
| Journal: | npj Digital Medicine |
| Published: | 25 Feb 2026 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41741601/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02488-7 |
| URL: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41746-026-02488-7 |
Publication 17628
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Abstract
Organ-specific aging clocks hold great potential in reflecting organ health. In vivo imaging is inherently organ-specific and delineates structural and functional characteristics more objectively. However, there is no systematic evaluation of imaging-based aging clocks. We utilized 1777 imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) from 11,000 healthy participants and assessed the organ-specific biological age of seven organs. The organ-specific age gap was primarily associated with incident diseases and mortality related to corresponding organs. The top-contributing IDPs to organ-specific biological age emerged as biomarkers for incident disease predictions, achieving an area under the curve (AUC) greater than 0.8 for dementia (AUC = 0.82). Subsequent proteomic analysis revealed 966 shared and 507 organ-specific molecular signatures for the aging of different organs. Finally, we identified key modifiable factors and 14 drug targets for organ-specific aging. The imaging-based aging clocks demonstrate organ-specificity at both macro and micro scales, which could promote personalized intervention and treatment of organ aging.</p>
14 Authors
- Peng Ren
- Wenjing Su
- Jia You
- Ying Liang
- Weikang Gong
- Wei Zhang
- Zairen Zhou
- Fei Dai
- Xiaohe Hou
- Wei-Shi Liu
- Jianfeng Feng
- He Wang
- Jin-Tai Yu
- Wei Cheng
Enabling scientific discoveries that improve human health