Cerantonio Annamaria, Greco Beatrice Maria, Citrigno Luigi, De Benedittis Selene, Qualtieri Antonio, Maletta Raffaele, Montesanto Alberto, Passarino Giuseppe, Spadafora Patrizia, Cavalcanti Francesca
Institute for Biomedical Research and Innovation, National Research Council (IRIB-CNR), 87050 Mangone, CS, Italy.
Department of Biology, Ecology and Earth Sciences, University of Calabria, 87036 Rende, CS, Italy.
Genes (Basel). 2025 May 30;16(6):679. doi: 10.3390/genes16060679.
Nowadays, scientists are making efforts to elucidate the mechanisms involved in the phenotypic changes underlying the aging process in order to develop favorable therapeutical interventions. Epigenetic modifications, in particular DNA methylation, play a crucial role in the aging process, and this parameter has been used to set epigenetic clocks, algorithms that predict an individual's biological age based on a defined set of CpGs. In this review, we focus on the most recent literature to discuss the use of epigenetic clocks in the context of cognitive decline and dysregulation of Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related gene expression. We have summarized all published scientific papers in which epigenetic clocks have been applied to measure age acceleration in blood and brain specimens from patients affected with AD. Progressive age acceleration, consistent with a specific DNA methylation signature, was observed in patients affected by AD, and it was correlated with the onset of complex diseases, mitochondrial alterations, dementia and cognitive decline, even in the early stages of these conditions. The use of epigenetic clocks might be a valuable biomarker to enable an earlier identification of ideal measures to reverse modifications caused by aging and to mitigate multiple aspects of disease/aging mechanisms.
如今，科学家们正在努力阐明衰老过程中表型变化所涉及的机制，以便开发出有效的治疗干预措施。表观遗传修饰，尤其是DNA甲基化，在衰老过程中起着至关重要的作用，并且这个参数已被用于设定表观遗传时钟，即基于一组特定的CpG来预测个体生物学年龄的算法。在这篇综述中，我们聚焦于最新文献，讨论在认知衰退和阿尔茨海默病（AD）相关基因表达失调的背景下表观遗传时钟的应用。我们总结了所有已发表的科学论文，其中表观遗传时钟已被用于测量AD患者血液和脑标本中的年龄加速情况。在AD患者中观察到与特定DNA甲基化特征一致的渐进性年龄加速，并且它与复杂疾病、线粒体改变、痴呆和认知衰退的发生相关，甚至在这些病症的早期阶段也是如此。表观遗传时钟的使用可能是一种有价值的生物标志物，能够更早地确定理想措施，以逆转衰老引起的修饰，并减轻疾病/衰老机制的多个方面。
