Cited by 127Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model OrganismsTelomeres, Telomerase, and SenescenceCircadian rhythm and melatonin

An integrative study of five biological clocks in somatic and mental health

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Jansen, Rick, Han, Laura KM, Verhoeven, Josine E, Aberg, Karolina A, van den Oord, Edwin CGJ, Milaneschi, Yuri, Penninx, Brenda WJH·2021·eLife

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Abstract

Biological clocks have been developed at different molecular levels and were found to be more advanced in the presence of somatic illness and mental disorders. However, it is unclear whether different biological clocks reflect similar aging processes and determinants. In ~3000 subjects, we examined whether five biological clocks (telomere length, epigenetic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and metabolomic clocks) were interrelated and associated to somatic and mental health determinants. Correlations between biological aging indicators were small (all r < 0.2), indicating little overlap. The most consistent associations of advanced biological aging were found for male sex, higher body mass index (BMI), metabolic syndrome, smoking, and depression. As compared to the individual clocks, a composite index of all five clocks showed most pronounced associations with health determinants. The large effect sizes of the composite index and the low correlation between biological aging indicators suggest that one’s biological age is best reflected by combining aging measures from multiple cellular levels.

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  • Epigenetic age gaps showed no correlations with proteomic and metabolomic age gaps.

    “Interestingly, epigenetic age gaps showed no correlations with proteomic and metabolomic age gaps, emphasizing that different omics technologies may capture different ageing signals.”

    From Measuring biological age using omics data (2022) · cites this paper as [155]

  • In one multi-omics study, epigenetic and transcriptomic clock age gaps were mildly correlated, and proteomic and metabolomic clock age gaps were mildly correlated.

    “One multi-omics study wherein the authors built their own telomere, epigenetic, proteomic and metabolomics clocks within a single cohort found mild correlations between epigenetic and transcriptomic clock age gaps and between proteomic and metabolomic clock age gaps155.”

    From Measuring biological age using omics data (2022) · cites this paper as [155]

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  1. Akker E Trompet S Wolf J Beekman M Suchiman HED 2019 Predicting biological age based on the BBMRI-NL 1 H-NMR metabolomics repository bioRxiv 10.1101/632919 · DOI

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Authors
Jansen, R., Han, L. K., Verhoeven, J. E., Aberg, K. A., van den Oord, E. C., Milaneschi, Y., & Penninx, B. W.
Affiliations
  • Amsterdam Neuroscience (NL)
  • Center for Biomarker Research and Precision Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, United States
Corresponding author
Jansen, Rick
Venue
eLife
Published
2021-02-09
Volume
10
ISSN
2050-084X (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3127104885
Cited by
127
References
76
Citations by year
2026: 22 · 2025: 28 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 24 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 1
FWCI
6.80
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • eLife (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Amsterdam UMC (VU Amsterdam) - Institutional Repository (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Minerva Access (University of Melbourne) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
Funders
  • Universiteit Leiden (10‐000‐1002)
  • Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (10‐000‐1002)
  • ZonMw (184.021.007, 10‐000‐1002, 91811602)
  • Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  • Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (184021007, 10-000-1002, 91811602, 184.033.111)
  • GGZ inGeest
  • Rivierduinen
  • GGZ Friesland
  • GGZ Drenthe
  • Leids Universitair Medisch Centrum
  • Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen
  • National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH099110, RC2MH089951, R01MH109525)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Aging › Genetics, Aging, and Longevity in Model Organisms
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Telomeres, Telomerase, and Senescence
  • Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Endocrine and Autonomic Systems › Circadian rhythm and melatonin
Keywords
biological clock, biological aging, telomere length, epigenetic clocks, physical health, mental health, depression, metabolic syndrome, body mass index, smoking, sex differences
MeSH terms
Biological Clocks, Humans, Mental Health, Telomere, Proteome, Epigenesis, Genetic, Metabolome, Transcriptome

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