2025-06-05 アメリカ国立衛生研究所 (NIH)
<関連情報>
- https://www.nih.gov/nih-researchers-conclude-taurine-unlikely-be-good-aging-biomarker
- https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adl2116
タウリンは老化バイオマーカーか? Is taurine an aging biomarker?
Maria Emilia Fernandez, Michel Bernier, Nathan L. Price, Simonetta Camandola, […] , and Rafael de Cabo
Science Published:5 Jun 2025
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adl2116
Editor’s summary
Some studies (including work published in 2023 by Singh et al.) have indicated that taurine concentrations decline with age, and supplementation has been suggested to improve both healthspan and lifespan. Fernandez et al. now report results in mice, nonhuman primates, and three distinct large human cohorts studied longitudinally (i.e., with repeated measurements of the same individuals) that yield a more complex picture. The authors found large interindividual variation in circulating taurine concentrations and an increase in taurine concentrations with age for women. There was also no clear association of taurine concentrations with measures of health status. Thus, the possible beneficial effects of taurine supplementation are likely to depend on a range of variables and individual context. —L. Bryan Ray
Structured Abstract
INTRODUCTION
Taurine (2-aminoethane-sulfonic acid), a conditionally essential amino acid involved in multiple important biological functions, has been extensively studied as a biomarker and therapeutic molecule for diverse disease states. Because age is the primary risk factor for the development of many of these conditions, the potential of taurine to serve as a biomarker or modulator of aging has also been the focus of numerous research efforts. Several studies have found that circulating taurine concentrations decrease with age, including a recent report that further demonstrated that supplementation with taurine improves multiple age-related phenotypes and extends life span in model organisms. This study has sparked renewed interest in taurine as a potential biomarker, driver, and therapeutic target for aging. However, the question of how circulating taurine concentrations change with age is still a matter of debate because other studies have found no change or increased taurine concentrations with age.
RATIONALE
Several aspects of study design can increase variability and contribute to the discrepancies observed in previous reports, including (i) evaluation of circulating taurine changes across limited age ranges, (ii) reliance on cross-sectional data, and (iii) “pooled data” (e.g., when data from both sexes, divergent age ranges, or various health statuses are combined for analysis). To examine this, we performed longitudinal and cross-sectional assessments of circulating taurine concentrations in healthy human subjects and two commonly used animal models (nonhuman primates and mice) of both sexes over a broad age range to evaluate the age-related changes in taurine concentrations. Additionally, we assessed how these concentrations are associated with functional measures of health status (gross motor function and body weight) at different life stages.
RESULTS
Measurement of taurine concentration was performed on longitudinally collected plasma of human subjects (26 to 100 years old) from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), longitudinally collected serum from rhesus monkeys (3 to 32 years old), and C57BL/6J mice (9 to 27 months old) from the Study of Longitudinal Aging in Mice (SLAM). Taurine concentrations exhibited a sex-specific increase with age in all cohorts except male mice, in which taurine remained unchanged. These longitudinal analyses also revealed that the interindividual variability contributes more to the differences in taurine concentrations than age. Similar age-related changes in taurine concentrations were observed in two cross-sectional studies of geographically distinct human populations. The relation between taurine and muscle strength or body weight was inconsistent within and across cohorts.
CONCLUSION
First, circulating taurine does not decline with age (concentrations increase or remain unchanged) in healthy individuals of three mammalian species across the adult life span. Second, the interindividual variability in circulating taurine is generally greater than the longitudinal change across the life span, which limits its utility as a biomarker of aging. Third, the associations between circulating taurine concentrations and functional measures of health status are context dependent (i.e., age, species, or cohort)—a result that does not support the notion that a reduction in circulating taurine promotes the aging phenotype. On the basis of these findings, we conclude that low circulating taurine concentrations are unlikely to serve as a good biomarker of aging.
OPEN IN VIEWER
Age-related changes in circulating taurine concentrations and their association with health outcomes.
(Left) Circulating taurine does not decline with age in healthy human subjects, nonhuman primates, and mice of both sexes when evaluated longitudinally (L) or cross-sectionally (CS) across the adult life span. (Top right) Longitudinal studies reveal that taurine concentrations show high interindividual variability. (Bottom right) Taurine shows inconsistent associations with health outcomes. Balearic, Balearic Islands Study of Aging; PREMED, Predictive Medicine Research; NHP, nonhuman primate; 95% CI, 95% confidence interval; NS, not significant.
Abstract
Low circulating taurine concentrations have been proposed as a driver of the aging process. We found that circulating taurine concentrations increased or remained unchanged with age in three geographically distinct human cohorts as well as in nonhuman primates and mice when measured longitudinally (repeatedly in the same population) or cross-sectionally (sampling distinct populations at various ages). Moreover, considerable variability was observed in associations between taurine and age-related changes in health outcomes pertaining to gross motor function and energy homeostasis. Our results suggest that changes in circulating taurine are not a universal feature of aging and that its pleiotropic effects may be dependent on the temporal and physiological context of each individual.
