Age-Related Changes in Serum <i>N</i>-Glycome in Men and Women—Clusters Associated with Comorbidity
Óscar Lado-Baleato,
Jorge Torre,
Róisín O’Flaherty,
Manuela Alonso-Sampedro,
Iago Carballo,
Carmen Fernández-Merino,
Carmen Vidal,
Francisco Gude,
Radka Saldova,
Arturo González-Quintela
Affiliations
Óscar Lado-Baleato
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Jorge Torre
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Róisín O’Flaherty
GlycoScience Group, National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, Fosters Avenue, A94 X099 Dublin, Ireland
Manuela Alonso-Sampedro
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Iago Carballo
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Carmen Fernández-Merino
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Carmen Vidal
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Francisco Gude
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
Radka Saldova
GlycoScience Group, National Institute for Bioprocessing Research and Training, Fosters Avenue, A94 X099 Dublin, Ireland
Arturo González-Quintela
Research Methodology Group, Health Research Institute of Santiago de Compostela (IDIS), Galician Health Service, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15706 Santiago de Compostela, Spain
(1) Aim: To describe, in a general adult population, the serum N-glycome in relation to age in men and women, and investigate the association of N-glycome patterns with age-related comorbidity; (2) Methods: The serum N-glycome was studied by hydrophilic interaction chromatography with ultra-performance liquid chromatography in 1516 randomly selected adults (55.3% women; age range 18–91 years). Covariates included lifestyle factors, metabolic disorders, inflammatory markers, and an index of comorbidity. Principal component analysis was used to define clusters of individuals based on the 46 glycan peaks obtained in chromatograms; (3) Results: The serum N-glycome changed with ageing, with significant differences between men and women, both in individual N-glycan peaks and in groups defined by common features (branching, galactosylation, sialylation, fucosylation, and oligomannose). Through K-means clustering algorithm, the individuals were grouped into a cluster characterized by abundance of simpler N-glycans and a cluster characterized by abundance of higher-order N-glycans. The individuals of the first cluster were older, showed higher concentrations of glucose and glycation markers, higher levels of some inflammatory markers, lower glomerular filtration rate, and greater comorbidity index; (4) Conclusions: The serum N-glycome changes with ageing with sex dimorphism. The N-glycome could be, in line with the inflammaging hypothesis, a marker of unhealthy aging.
