The founder of the epigenetic clock technique was interviewed for MIT Technology Review: “We need to find ways to keep people healthier longer,” he says. He hopes that refinements to his clock will soon make it precise enough to reflect changes in lifestyle and behavior.” The journalist attempted to dumb the subject down “for the … Continue reading A slanted view of the epigenetic clock
The originator of the 2013 epigenetic clock improved its coverage with this 2018 UCLA human study: “We present a new DNA methylation-based biomarker (based on 391 CpGs) that was developed to accurately measure the age of human fibroblasts, keratinocytes, buccal cells, endothelial cells, skin and blood samples. We also observe strong age correlations in sorted neurons, … Continue reading The epigenetic clock now includes skin
This 2018 German human study’s last sentence was: “Additionally we found an association between DNAm [DNA methylation] age acceleration and rLTL [relative leukocyte telomere length], suggesting that this epigenetic clock, at least partially and possibly better than other epigenetic clocks, reflects biological age.” Statements in the study that contradicted, qualified, and limited the concluding sentence … Continue reading Hijacking the epigenetic clock paradigm
The first 2018 epigenetic clock human study was from Finland: “We evaluated the association between maternal antenatal depression and a novel biomarker of aging at birth, namely epigenetic gestational age (GA) based on fetal cord blood methylation data. We also examined whether this biomarker prospectively predicts and mediates maternal effects on early childhood psychiatric problems. … Continue reading A trio of epigenetic clock studies
My 400th blog post curates a 2018 US/UK paper by two of the coauthors of Using an epigenetic clock to distinguish cellular aging from senescence. The authors reviewed the current state of epigenetic clock research, and proposed a new theory of aging: “The proposed epigenetic clock theory of ageing views biological ageing as an unintended … Continue reading The epigenetic clock theory of aging
This 2018 UC San Diego human study investigated the capability of the epigenetic clock methodology to detect biological aging with nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients: “The ability to measure a surrogate marker of liver aging from a peripheral blood sample has broad implications for assessing clinically “silent” chronic diseases, such as NASH, and, potentially, their response … Continue reading Using an epigenetic clock to assess liver disease
This 2016 German human study found: “Epigenetic age acceleration is correlated with clinically relevant aging-related phenotypes through pathways unrelated to cellular senescence as assessed by telomere length. The current work employed the frailty index, a multi-dimensional approach that combines [34] parameters of multiple physiological systems and functional capacities. The present findings were based on [1,820] … Continue reading Using an epigenetic clock with older adults
This 2015 UK human study by many of the coauthors of What’s the origin of the problem of being fat? applied the Horvath epigenetic clock method to the same UK mother-child pairs and a Danish cohort: “There has been no investigation on prenatal and antenatal factors that affect AA [age acceleration] in children. It is … Continue reading Using an epigenetic clock with children
The 2016 UK/UCLA human study found: “Induction of replicative senescence (RS) and oncogene-induced senescence (OIS) are accompanied by ageing of the cell. However, senescence induced by DNA damage is not, even though RS and OIS activate the cellular DNA damage response pathway, highlighting the independence of senescence from cellular ageing. We used primary endothelial cells … Continue reading Using an epigenetic clock to distinguish cellular aging from senescence
This 2018 editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine concerned a clinical trial of an osteoporosis treatment: “When measurement of bone density was first introduced 25 years ago, absolute bone mineral density (g per square centimeter) was considered as too onerous for clinicians to understand. Ultimately, these events led to a treatment gap in … Continue reading Chronological age by itself is an outdated clinical measurement
