The Future of Aging Interventions Current Status of Efforts to Measure and Modulate the Biological Rate of Aging

Biomarkers of agingwould be highly desirable, but so far, a definitive panel of biomarkers to predict mortality risk has not been obtained, even thoughmany traits that varywith age have been identified. This lack hinders the search for interventions that may retard the rate of aging in mammals. The recent discovery and characterization of many longevity genes in animal model systems, such as nematodes, fruit flies, and mice, are providing new targets for research by providing insight into mechanisms of longevity regulation in these model systems. It is hoped that this will ultimately lead to interventions to delay the development of age-related pathology in humans. B IOMARKERS are measurements or other observationsmade on biological material that provide information about the physiological status of that material. As such, they may indicate the relative risk to an individual of developing any given disease or of death due to any of a variety of causes. Although chronological age is extensively used by the life insurance industry, it is a poor indicator of the overall health status of an individual. Thus, biomarkers of aging have long been sought by the gerontological researc