Causal relationship between aging-related biomarkers and osteoporosis: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study
Rui Xu, Yin Sun, Gui-guo Xu, Hai-bo Li, Hui Zhong, Zhi Peng, Sheng Lu · 2026
Read Causal relationship between aging-related biomarkers and osteoporosis: A bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization study by Rui Xu, Yin Sun, Gui-guo Xu, Hai-bo Li, Hui Zhong, Zhi Peng, Sheng Lu (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/PMC13424525.txt.
Description
Xu and colleagues ask in 2026 whether markers of biological aging actually cause osteoporosis, the thinning of bone that raises fracture risk, or merely travel with it. They use Mendelian randomization, a method that treats inherited gene variants as a natural experiment.
The team tested eight aging-related measures in both directions using European genetic data. The measures included telomere length, a mitochondrial DNA count, a growth factor, three amino acids, and a bone-related protein. Three signals appeared at first glance: higher growth factor and higher isoleucine each linked to lower risk, and higher Dickkopf-related protein 1 to higher risk. None of the three survived strict correction for multiple testing, though two extra methods kept supporting the Dickkopf protein. Osteoporosis itself showed no effect back on any marker.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Rui Xu, Yin Sun, Gui-guo Xu, Hai-bo Li, Hui Zhong, Zhi Peng, Sheng Lu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 30 KB |
| LICENSE | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |