When to Trust Epigenetic Clocks: Avoiding False Positives in Aging Interventions.

ABSTRACT: Recent human studies have suggested that aging interventions can reduce aging biomarkers related to morbidity and mortality risk. Such biomarkers may potentially serve as early, rapid indicators of effects on healthspan. An increasing number of studies are measuring intervention effects on epigenetic clocks, commonly used aging biomarkers based on DNA methylation profiles. However, with dozens of clocks to choose from, different clocks may not agree on the effect of an intervention. Furthermore, changes in some clocks may simply be the result of technical noise causing a false positive result. To address these issues, we measured the variability between 6 popular epigenetic clocks across a range of longitudinal datasets containing either an aging intervention or an age-accelerating event.

SUBMITTER: Borrus DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11526921 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature