Xiao Fu-Hui, Wang Hao-Tian, Kong Qing-Peng
State Key Laboratory of Genetic Resources and Evolution, Kunming Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Center for Excellence in Animal Evolution and Genetics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Kunming, China.
Front Genet. 2019 Feb 18;10:107. doi: 10.3389/fgene.2019.00107. eCollection 2019.
The biological markers of aging used to predict physical health status in older people are of great interest. Telomere shortening, which occurs during the process of cell replication, was initially considered a promising biomarker for the prediction of age and age-related outcomes (e.g., diseases, longevity). However, the high instability in detection and low correlation with age-related outcomes limit the extension of telomere length to the field of prediction. Currently, a growing number of studies have shown that dynamic DNA methylation throughout human lifetime exhibits strong correlation with age and age-related outcomes. Indeed, many researchers have built age prediction models with high accuracy based on age-dependent methylation changes in certain CpG loci. For now, DNA methylation based on epigenetic clocks, namely epigenetic or DNA methylation age, serves as a new standard to track chronological age and predict biological age. Measures of age acceleration (Δage, DNA methylation age - chronological age) have been developed to assess the health status of a person. In addition, there is evidence that an accelerated epigenetic age exists in patients with certain age-related diseases (e.g., Alzheimer's disease, cardiovascular disease). In this review, we provide an overview of the dynamic signatures of DNA methylation during aging and emphasize its practical utility in the prediction of various age-related outcomes.
用于预测老年人身体健康状况的衰老生物学标志物备受关注。端粒缩短发生在细胞复制过程中，最初被认为是预测年龄及与年龄相关结局（如疾病、寿命）的一个有前景的生物标志物。然而，检测中的高不稳定性以及与年龄相关结局的低相关性限制了端粒长度在预测领域的应用。目前，越来越多的研究表明，人类一生中动态的DNA甲基化与年龄及年龄相关结局呈现出很强的相关性。的确，许多研究人员基于某些CpG位点的年龄依赖性甲基化变化构建了高精度的年龄预测模型。目前，基于表观遗传时钟的DNA甲基化，即表观遗传或DNA甲基化年龄，成为了追踪实际年龄和预测生物年龄的新标准。年龄加速指标（Δ年龄，DNA甲基化年龄 - 实际年龄）已被用于评估一个人的健康状况。此外，有证据表明，某些与年龄相关疾病（如阿尔茨海默病、心血管疾病）患者存在表观遗传年龄加速的情况。在本综述中，我们概述了衰老过程中DNA甲基化的动态特征，并强调其在预测各种与年龄相关结局方面的实际应用价值。
