A new “epigenetic clock”, developed by researchers at the University of Glasgow (Scotland) and the Karolinska Institute (Stockholm, Sweden), has made it possible to precisely measure the biological aging of patients with kidney failure chronic. “ Our results show that not only do these patients age more rapidly than people in the general population, but their accelerated aging also only slows once they receive a transplant. [rein] “, said nephrologist Peter Stenvinkel, of the Karolinska Institute, in a press release, adding that their tool showed that biological aging does not seem to slow down in these patients treated with dialysis. The results were published in the journal Journal of Internal Medicine.
Epigenetic clocks use algorithms to estimate a person’s biological age; that is, how “old” the cells and tissues are, relative to its chronological age. The algorithms track hundreds of epigenetic markers that measure DNA methylation, which declines as cells and tissues age. Some of these clocks can also incorporate other data to improve their estimates.
Chronic kidney disease is known to be associated with accelerated aging and reduced DNA methylation. However, it is not clearly established whether dialysis and kidney transplantation, the two treatment options for end-stage renal disease, can slow this acceleration.
To investigate the question, molecular biologist Ognian Neytchev, of the University of Glasgow, and colleagues compared the use of different types of data to estimate biological age in more than 400 patients with chronic kidney disease. and 100 age-matched controls.
The data included blood biomarkers such as albumin, creatinine and glucose levels; skin autofluorescence, which increases over time in most people on dialysis due to the accumulation of advanced glycation end products; and three well-established DNA methylation clocks. The researchers also tested a fourth DNA methylation clock that they developed themselves. This “Glasgow-Karolinska” model was designed to reduce the statistical bias present in the other three clocks by averaging their estimates of biological age.
All these methods were also used to estimate the biological age of 47 of the patients, 1 year after starting dialysis or undergoing a kidney transplant.
The three standard DNA methylation clocks revealed that the biological age of kidney disease patients was higher than their chronological age. The clocks also indicated that accelerated aging was significantly reduced one year after kidney transplant, but not one year after dialysis. On the other hand, blood biomarkers and skin fluorescence tended to overestimate biological age.
By comparing the three DNA methylation clocks with each other, the researchers found that they gave similar estimates of the biological age of kidney disease patients. However, estimates of these clocks correlated poorly with the chronological age of kidney transplant patients and were inaccurate when tested on healthy controls.
On the other hand, estimates of biological age obtained by the Glasgow-Karolinska clock matched those of other DNA methylation tests when used in patients with chronic kidney disease and were also more accurate when tested in healthy controls.
According to Peter Stenvinkel, the Glasgow-Karolinska clock could also be used in the future to study treatment strategies in patients with end-stage renal disease, a group prone to premature aging.
This article was translated from Medscape.co.uk using multiple editorial tools, including AI, in the process. The content was reviewed by the editorial staff before publication.
