ARPA-H-funded PROSPR program focuses on the biological hallmarks of aging

While life expectancy has increased dramatically, the number of years people spend in good health-has not kept pace. Chronic diseases now affect more Americans, particularly as they age, driving rising healthcare costs and reducing quality of life. The ARPA-H–funded project seeks to shift medicine from treating age-related disease after it appears to preventing decline before it begins.

Early findings underscore the promise of this approach. For example, preliminary results suggest rapamycin may slow ovarian aging by approximately 20 percent, potentially extending fertility by up to five years. Other trials show improvements in cardiovascular biomarkers, patient-reported health status, and reduced progression to diabetes.

"PROSPR was designed to allow the first clinical trials for aging to be possible," says Andrew Brack, ARPA-H Program Manager and creator of the PROSPR program. He adds, "To make clinical trials shorter than aging itself, we need biomarkers that change early in response to health-promoting interventions, which is why the FAST project is so important to the success of PROSPR as a whole."

"This project is exciting because it moves the science of aging from theory to action," said Belsky. "By combining data from multiple clinical trials, we have a rare opportunity to identify clear biological signals of what actually slows aging in humans-and to use that knowledge to prevent disease before it begins."

Belsky adds: "FAST represents a turning point for aging research. Instead of asking whether individual drugs work for single diseases, we're asking a much larger question: can we measure-and ultimately extend-the years people spend in good health? That shift has the potential to reshape medicine for an aging society."

The FAST project now funded by the ARPA-H PROSPR Initiative was originally incubated by the American Federation for Aging Research and co-led by Dan Belsky, Nir Barzilai, and Mahdi Moqri. Current Columbia co-collaborators include Aris Floratos, Systems Biology; Yousin Suh, OBGYN; Zhonghua Liu, Biostatistics; and Gary Miller, Environmental Health Sciences. Outside collaborators are Svati Shah and Senthil Selvaraj, Duke University; Andrew Sauer, Saint Luke's Health System; Nir Barzilai, Einstein College of Medicine; Mahdi Moqri, Brigham and Women's Hospital; Henrik Bengtsson, NovoNordisk; the proteomics company OLink, and the epigenetics company TruDiagnostic.

Source:

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health