Abstract
beta 2M (Beta 2 microglobulin) is a small protein that is found in all nucleated cells, previous finding showed that its levels increased in the serum of the elderly. Buccal cell samples are none invasive approach for assessing the expression of target genes. There was rationality to assess the expression of beta 2M in buccal cells of people of a different group of ages. Indeed, the expression of132M increased significantly with fold change 3.40, 4.80, 6.60** , 8.20*** and 12.04*** for the group of age 18-25 years, 26-35 years, 36-45 years, 46-55 years, and 56-70 years respectively. The same observation was seen with markers of biological aging (p16(INK4a)) with fold change 3.19, 3.90, 4.80*, 8.50*** and 12.40*** for the group of age 18-25 years, 26-35 years, 36-45 years, 46-55 years, and 56-70 years respectively. As expected, there was an increase in the inflammatory genes (IL-beta and IL-6) expression in the elderly. Moreover, there was a direct significant correlation (r = 90, p < 0.001) between beta M expression and age (years), and the same direct significant correlation between p16(INK4a) expression and age (years) was also seen (r = 90, p < 0.001). In addition, a direct correlation between beta 2M and p16(INK4a) was also seen (r = 0.8.3, p < 0.001), there was also direct correlation between beta 2M and IL-1 beta and IL-6 with (r = 0.5, p < 0.001; r = 0.68, p < 0.001) respectively. This evidence showed that beta 2M increased in buccal cells of the elderly compared to younger, and thereby buccal cells can be exploited to assess biological aging by measuring beta 2M levels, however, large sample size and using another assessing method such as beta 2M protein levels should be performed to confirm the results. (C) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University.