Department of Human Genetics, Gonda Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Department of Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Nat Rev Genet. 2018 Jun;19(6):371-384. doi: 10.1038/s41576-018-0004-3.
Identifying and validating molecular targets of interventions that extend the human health span and lifespan has been difficult, as most clinical biomarkers are not sufficiently representative of the fundamental mechanisms of ageing to serve as their indicators. In a recent breakthrough, biomarkers of ageing based on DNA methylation data have enabled accurate age estimates for any tissue across the entire life course. These 'epigenetic clocks' link developmental and maintenance processes to biological ageing, giving rise to a unified theory of life course. Epigenetic biomarkers may help to address long-standing questions in many fields, including the central question: why do we age?
确定和验证能够延长人类健康寿命和寿命的干预措施的分子靶标一直很困难，因为大多数临床生物标志物都不能充分代表衰老的基本机制，不能作为其指标。最近取得了一项突破，基于 DNA 甲基化数据的衰老生物标志物能够准确估计整个生命周期内任何组织的年龄。这些“表观遗传钟”将发育和维持过程与生物衰老联系起来，形成了一个统一的生命过程理论。表观遗传生物标志物可能有助于解决许多领域的长期存在的问题，包括核心问题：为什么我们会衰老？
