Researchers at King's College London, in
collaboration with the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, have identified a group
of 'ageing' genes that are switched on and off by natural mechanisms called
epigenetic factors, influencing the rate of healthy ageing and potential
longevity.
The
study also suggests these epigenetic processes – that can be caused by external
factors such as diet, lifestyle and environment – are likely to be initiated
from an early age and
continue through a person's life. The researchers say that the epigenetic
changes they have identified could be used as potential 'markers' of biological
ageing and in the future could be possible targets for anti-ageing therapies.
Published
today in PLoS Genetics, the study looked at 172 twins aged 32 to 80
from the TwinsUK cohort based at King's College London and St Thomas' Hospital,
as part of King's Health Partners Academic Health Sciences Centre.
The
researchers looked for epigenetic changes in the twins' DNA, and performed
epigenome-wide association scans to analyse these changes in relation to
chronological age. They identified 490 age related epigenetic changes. They
also analysed DNA modifications in age related traits and found that epigenetic
changes in four genes relate
to cholesterol, lung function and maternal longevity.
To try
to identify when these epigenetic changes may be triggered, the researchers
replicated the study in 44 younger twins, aged 22 to 61, and found that many of
the 490 age related epigenetic changes were also present in this younger group.
The researchers say these results suggest that while many age related epigenetic
changes happen naturally with age throughout a person's life, a proportion of
these changes may be initiated early in life.
Dr
Jordana Bell from King's College London, who co-led the study said: 'We found
that epigenetic changes associate with age related traits that have previously
been used to define biological age.
'We
identified many age-related epigenetic changes, but four seemed to impact the
rate of healthy ageing and potential longevity and we can use these findings as
potential markers of ageing. These results can help understand the biological
mechanisms underlying healthy ageing and age-related disease, and future work
will explore how environmental effects can affect these epigenetic changes.'
Dr
Panos Deloukas, co-leader of the study from the Wellcome Trust Sanger
Institute, said: 'Our study interrogated only a fraction of sites in the genome
that carry such epigenetic changes; these initial findings support the need for
a more comprehensive scan of epigenetic variation.'
Professor
Tim Spector, senior author from King's College London, said: 'This study is the
first glimpse of the potential that large twin studies have to find the key
genes involved in ageing, how they can be modified by lifestyle and start to
develop anti-ageing therapies. The future will be very exciting for age
research.'
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