Key points:
- In a study of the effects of aging on chronic kidney disease, researchers discovered that epigenetic clocks were inaccurate when compared with medical evidence.
- The research team developed a new epigenetic clock that accurately measures DNA methylation in both healthy and unhealthy tissue.
- Their tool has the potential to benefit the public, help address health inequalities, and assess treatment for populations subjected to premature aging.
A research team at the University of Glasgow has developed a new test to accurately measure biological aging in a clinical setting. This test, detailed in the Journal of Internal Medicine, is an epigenetic clock that assesses DNA to understand how well the body is aging relative to its chronological age.
The researchers discovered the accurate epigenetic clock as they studied more than 400 patients with chronic kidney disease and 100 matched controls to determine the impact of aging. They used epigenetic clocks to measure changes in biological age one year after kidney transplant or one year after the start of dialysis and compared these results to those of healthy controls.
All the epigenetic clocks yielded similar results, but none proved accurate in the clinical setting. As a result, the team was inspired to develop a new, more accurate epigenetic clock—the Glasgow-Karolinska Clock—that can be used with both healthy and unhealthy tissue. These clocks matched what doctors found in patients with chronic kidney disease, showing that their biological clock ticks faster than that of the average person, even after dialysis treatment.
Epigenetic changes and DNA methylation result from aging and disease-related aging. Epigenetic clocks, measuring methylation tags on DNA, have been proposed as the “gold standard” for accurate age measurement. However, this study marks the first real-world test of epigenetic clocks in both a normal and clinical aging setting.
“This is the first clinical test of epigenetic clocks,” said lead author Paul Shiels of the University of Glasgow. “The discovery that most are inaccurate when compared with medical evidence has led us to develop a new more accurate test which can accurately measure methylation tags on DNA of both healthy and unhealthy tissue. We have proven it is accurate to the high standards of a clinical setting.”
Given that diet and the gut microbiome can affect DNA methylation, the research team believes the new clock has the potential to accurately evaluate lifestyle interventions. This new tool can benefit the public, help address health inequalities, and improve treatment for populations experiencing premature aging.