The DOI matches its Crossref record; 31 of the 31 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Age-associated epigenetic drift: implications, and a case of epigenetic thrift?
Open accessAbstract
It is now well established that the genomic landscape of DNA methylation (DNAm) gets altered as a function of age, a process we here call 'epigenetic drift'. The biological, functional, clinical and evolutionary significance of this epigenetic drift, however, remains unclear. We here provide a brief review of epigenetic drift, focusing on the potential implications for ageing, stem cell biology and disease risk prediction. It has been demonstrated that epigenetic drift affects most of the genome, suggesting a global deregulation of DNAm patterns with age. A component of this drift is tissue-specific, allowing remarkably accurate age-predictive models to be constructed. Another component is tissue-independent, targeting stem cell differentiation pathways and affecting stem cells, which may explain the observed decline of stem cell function with age. Age-associated increases in DNAm target developmental genes, overlapping those associated with environmental disease risk factors and with disease itself, notably cancer. In particular, cancers and precursor cancer lesions exhibit aggravated age DNAm signatures. Epigenetic drift is also influenced by genetic factors. Thus, drift emerges as a promising biomarker for premature or biological ageing, and could potentially be used in geriatrics for disease risk prediction. Finally, we propose, in the context of human evolution, that epigenetic drift may represent a case of epigenetic thrift, or bet-hedging. In summary, this review demonstrates the growing importance of the 'ageing epigenome', with potentially far-reaching implications for understanding the effect of age on stem cell function and differentiation, as well as for disease prevention.
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Cites
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Cited by
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Bell, C. G., Lowe, R., Adams, P. D., Baccarelli, A. A., Beck, S., Bell, J. T., Christensen, B. C., Gladyshev, V. N., Heijmans, B. T., Horvath, S., et al. (2019) · Genome Biology · doi:10.1186/s13059-019-1824-y · Cited by 1,025
Self-citationEpigenetic modulators, modifiers and mediators in cancer aetiology and progression
Feinberg, A. P., Koldobskiy, M. A., & Göndör, A. (2016) · Nature Reviews Genetics · doi:10.1038/nrg.2016.13 · Cited by 841
Aging of blood can be tracked by DNA methylation changes at just three CpG sites
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The Key Role of Epigenetics in Human Disease Prevention and Mitigation
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Metadata
- Authors
- Teschendorff, A. E., West, J., & Beck, S.
- Venue
- Human Molecular Genetics
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2013-08-04
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- R1
- Pages
- R7-R15
- ISSN
- 0964-6906 (ISSN-L)
- 1460-2083
- OpenAlex
- W2117398145
- Cited by
- 316
- References
- 31
- FWCI
- 12.78
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
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