Preparing for Aging

XPRIZE

Outcome

A method / tool for early diagnosis of at least three age-related diseases and conditions. The tool will provide an earlier diagnosis than any of the other commonly used methods used today.

Why the Need?

An early diagnosis of age-related diseases and conditions could help us gain a better understanding of their progress, and deal with their consequences more efficiently. It could also help develop a unified model for aging that includes those aging symptoms. Finally, it will increase public awareness of aging, as people will realize their place on the spectrum of aging, sometimes even as early as the third decade of their lives.

Stipulations for a Successful Breakthrough Solution

The tool -

• Must be testable and not harmful to test subjects, as well as technically simple to perform.
• Should work on animals as well as humans.

Promising Technologies for Solutions

There are many diagnostic technologies that could be used to accomplish this breakthrough. These include DNA sequencing, real-time epigenomics mapping, tracking aging biomarkers, advanced imaging technologies, and others. It is likely this breakthrough will be achieved via a combination of several of these techniques.

Expected year for proof of concept: 2025
Expected year for mass-scaling: 2030

NickOttens

@user587274, @andersimfu and @Jay, what are your thoughts on this potential breakthrough? Do you think it would be worth turning into an XPRIZE?

Natasha

Exceptional! What we all might effectively debate is what age-related diseases. Heart conditions, dementia, and cancer would be my picks.

HRS

Very interesting! However, I am not sure, how one method can do early diagnosis of at least three age-related diseases?
Do you mean diseases with completely different etiologies? This will be extremely difficult to achieve!
Perhaps related conditions ( 3 types of cancers or 3 type of dementia for example dementia due to Alzheimer's disease, dementia due to Lewy bodies and frontotemporal lobar degeneration) using an early diagnostic tool with differential diagnosis abilities can become available! This has the potential but doesn't seem to be feasible in 10 years time!! We still do not know enough about genetic risk factors of many age-related conditions, let alone be able to use them for diagnostic purposes!

JessicaYoon

Thanks for your feedback @HRS! Would love to hear other opinions from the community on this issue of feasibility, and focusing instead on diagnostics for related conditions.

SamBlake

@HRS Perhaps another approach that focuses on detecting multiple diseases that are underpinned by the same hallmark(s) of aging would work? What do you think?

HRS

@JessicaYoon, please note that I am not arguing against the idea of “A method / tool for early diagnosis of at least three age-related diseases”! However, I would like to ask about things to clarify and consider in terms of the limitations of our currently available scientific methods toexamine and our understanding of diffrent diseases to achieve this goal.

@SamBlake, that (i.e. hallmarks) I would agree, even though my approach is a bit biased because of being a clinical neuroscience person who usually thinks about translational value and feasibility!
Talking about the hallmarks, let’s take neurodegeneration as an example of a downstream neuropathological hallmark of relatively all dementia causes. Each dementia has its relatively unique neuropathological features contributing to this downstream marker. One potentially good approach is to identify common hallmarks across associated diseases. Unrelated diseases are very hard to examine this idea on. I emphasise this, as it seems that some diseases are partially exclusionary based on our current available data. For example, cancer and neurodegeneration are not seen together and in fact there are evidence of being mutually exclusive to some degree!
Cardiovascular disorders and dementias are associated, but so is many other age-related conditions. Is there a common cause! Yes, age seems to be associated with all conditions seen in older adults above and beyond any other factor, including the genetic risk factors for dementia. So, if there is ‘A method / tool for early diagnosis of at least three age-related diseases”, I am all for it given we can overcome the limitations of our currently available scientific methods and our understanding of the age-related diseases.