Plasmapheresis May Accelerate Epigenetic Age in Humans

🔬TODAY’S BREAKTHROUGH

Contrary to expectations, a human study found that plasmapheresis without replacement might increase, not decrease, epigenetic biological age in healthy donors.

A new human study tested the effects of plasmapheresis—a medical procedure where blood plasma is removed from the body while red and white blood cells are returned. Unlike plasma donation, no fluid was replaced.

Surprisingly, rather than rejuvenation, this approach accelerated biological age based on multiple epigenetic clocks, suggesting that plasma removal alone may induce a stress response harmful to long-term health.

• Plasmapheresis is a process that removes the plasma portion of blood, which carries proteins, hormones, and inflammatory molecules, returning only the blood cells

• Participants underwent either 4 or 8 sessions of plasmapheresis over 18 weeks with no replacement fluid (no albumin or young plasma)

• DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks showed increased biological aging, including GrimAge, Hannum Clock, and DunedinPACE

• Blood biomarkers also shifted: reductions in albumin, cholesterol, and triglycerides, with increases in RDW and MCHC, linked to aging and inflammation

• These changes suggest the body may interpret the plasma loss as physiological stress, leading to accelerated aging signatures

This study highlights that not all blood cleaning is beneficial, especially without carefully balanced protocols.

Avoid unverified plasmapheresis procedures.

Focus instead on clinically validated interventions like resistance training, fasting, and nutrient-rich diets, which have consistent benefits and no evidence of causing biological age acceleration.

Human plasmapheresis without plasma replacement may provoke epigenetic aging acceleration, reminding us that more intervention isn’t always better in anti-aging.

Human Clinical Trial of Plasmapheresis Effects on Biomarkers of Aging (Efficacy and Safety Trial), Scientific Reports, Borsky et al., July 2025
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-05396-0