Abstract
Ageing is characterized by progressive functional decline and increase in disease risk and imposes substantial burdens on human health. Identifying aging biomarkers in primates is crucial for advancing our understanding of human ageing and for informing interventions to mitigate age-related pathologies. However, a comprehensive grasp of these biomarkers is still lacking, hindering the translation of fundamental research into clinical practice. In this Review, we present the current knowledge on biomarkers of ageing at the cellular, tissue and organism levels in humans and non-human primates. Through systematic analysis of representative biomarkers across diverse biological contexts and scales, we discuss both the variability and the conservation of ageing-associated physiological changes, underscoring their importance in assessing and intervening in the ageing process. Finally, we critically assess challenges in ageing research and outline strategic avenues for future investigation.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank L. Bai, J. Lu, J. Chen and J. Li for their administrative and technical support, and Y. Yang and S. Luo for their assistance with literature collection. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82488301, 82125011 and 82361148131), the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2020YFA0804000, 2022YFA1103700 and 2022YFA1103800), Non-Communicable Chronic Diseases-National Science and Technology Major Project (2024ZD0530400), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (92168201, 82330044, 32341001 and 32121001), the Program of the Beijing Natural Science Foundation (JQ24044, Z240018 and F251011), CAS Project for Young Scientists in Basic Research (YSBR-076 and YSBR-012), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA0460403), New Cornerstone Science Foundation through the XPLORER PRIZE (2021-1045), Young Elite Scientists Sponsorship Program by CAST (2023QNRC001) and Tang Aoqing Scholar Program of Jilin University.
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Z.W., J.Q., W.Z. and G.-H.L. contributed equally to researching data for the article, discussion of content, writing and reviewing and/or editing of the manuscript. The members of the Aging Biomarker Consortium contributed to the discussion of content and to reviewing and/or editing of the manuscript.
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Wu, Z., Qu, J., Zhang, W. et al. Biomarkers of ageing of humans and non-human primates. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00883-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41580-025-00883-8
