iScience (Jul 2024)

Association between bilirubin and biomarkers of metabolic health and oxidative stress in the MARK-AGE cohort

  • Vanessa Schoissengeier,
  • Lina Maqboul,
  • Daniela Weber,
  • Tilman Grune,
  • Alexander Bürkle,
  • Maria Moreno-Villaneuva,
  • Claudio Franceschi,
  • Miriam Capri,
  • Jürgen Bernhard,
  • Olivier Toussaint,
  • Florence Debacq-Chainiaux,
  • Birgit Weinberger,
  • Efstathios S. Gonos,
  • Ewa Sikora,
  • Martijn Dollé,
  • Eugène Jansen,
  • P. Eline Slagboom,
  • Antti Hervonnen,
  • Mikko Hurme,
  • Nicolle Breusing,
  • Jan Frank,
  • Andrew C. Bulmer,
  • Karl-Heinz Wagner

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 27, no. 7
p. 110234

Abstract

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Summary: Recent studies have shown that elevated concentrations of unconjugated bilirubin (UCB) may be a protective host factor against the development of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), whereas low levels of UCB are associated with the opposite effect. The results of this European study, in which 2,489 samples were tested for their UCB concentration using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and additional data from the MARK-AGE database were used for analysis, provide further evidence that elevated UCB concentrations are linked to a lower risk of developing NCDs and may act as a predictive marker of biological aging as individuals with elevated UCB concentrations showed favorable outcomes in metabolic health and oxidative-stress-related biomarkers. These findings underline the significance of studying individuals with moderate hyperbilirubinemia and investigate UCB routinely, also in the setting of aging, since this condition affects millions of people worldwide but has been underrepresented in clinical research and practice until now.

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