Age, Sex, and BMI Influence on Copper, Zinc, and Their Major Serum Carrier Proteins in a Large European Population Including Nonagenarian Offspring From MARK-AGE Study

The analysis of copper (Cu) and zinc (Zn) along with their major serum carriers, albumin (Alb) and ceruloplasmin (Cp), could provide information on the capacity of humans to maintain homeostasis of metals (metallostasis). However, their relationship with aging, sex, body mass index, as well as with nutritional and inflammatory markers was never investigated in a large-scale study. Here, we report results from the European large-scale cross-sectional study MARK-AGE in which Cu, Zn, Alb, Cp, as well as nutritional and inflammatory parameters were determined in 2424 age-stratified participants (35-75 years), including the general population (RASIG), nonagenarian offspring (GO), a well-studied genetic model of longevity, and spouses of GO (SGO). Our results show that aging, sex, body mass index, and GO status are characterized by different levels of Cu, Zn, and their serum carrier proteins. These data and their relationship with inflammatory biomarkers support the concept that loss of metallostasis is a characteristic of inflammaging.

Piacenza F, Giacconi R, Costarelli L, Basso A, Bürkle A, Moreno-Villanueva M, Dollé MET, Jansen E, Grune T, Weber D, Stuetz W, Gonos ES, Schön C, Bernhardt J, Grubeck-Loebenstein B, Sikora E, Toussaint O, Debacq-Chainiaux F, Franceschi C, Capri M, Hervonen A, Hurme M, Slagboom E, Breusing N, Mocchegiani E, Malavolta M

J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2021 Nov 15;76(12):2097-2106. doi: 10.1093/gerona/glab134. PMID: 33983441