Comparison of DNA methylation clocks in Black South African men

H. Toinét Cronjé; Cornelie Nienaber-Rousseau; Josine L Min; Fiona Green; Hannah R Elliott; Marlien Pieters

doi:10.2217/epi-2020-0333

Comparison of DNA methylation clocks in Black South African men

H. Toinét Cronjé^*, Cornelie Nienaber-Rousseau, Josine L Min, Fiona Green, Hannah R Elliott, Marlien Pieters

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Aims: DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks are widely used to estimate biological age, although limited data are available on non-European ethnicities. Here, we characterize the behavior of five DNAm clocks in 120 older Black South African men.

Methods: We investigate the accuracy in age estimation by the Horvath, Hannum and skin and blood clocks and the relative age-related mortality risk and predicted time to death portrayed by the PhenoAge and GrimAge estimators, respectively.

Results: We confirm the tendency of DNAm clocks to underestimate the biological age of older individuals. GrimAge more accurately characterized biological decline compared to the PhenoAge in this cohort, owing to the unique inclusion of smoking-related damage in the GrimAge estimate.

Conclusion: Each clock provides a different fraction of information regarding the aging body. It is essential to continue studying under-represented population groups to ensure methylation-derived indicators are robust and useful in all populations.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	437-449
Number of pages	13
Journal	Epigenomics
Volume	13
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.2217/epi-2020-0333
Publication status	Published - 8 Mar 2021

Keywords

biological
GrimAge
PhenoAge
phenotypic age
smoking

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title = "Comparison of DNA methylation clocks in Black South African men",

abstract = "Aims: DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks are widely used to estimate biological age, although limited data are available on non-European ethnicities. Here, we characterize the behavior of five DNAm clocks in 120 older Black South African men.Methods: We investigate the accuracy in age estimation by the Horvath, Hannum and skin and blood clocks and the relative age-related mortality risk and predicted time to death portrayed by the PhenoAge and GrimAge estimators, respectively.Results: We confirm the tendency of DNAm clocks to underestimate the biological age of older individuals. GrimAge more accurately characterized biological decline compared to the PhenoAge in this cohort, owing to the unique inclusion of smoking-related damage in the GrimAge estimate.Conclusion: Each clock provides a different fraction of information regarding the aging body. It is essential to continue studying under-represented population groups to ensure methylation-derived indicators are robust and useful in all populations.",

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AU - Cronjé, H. Toinét

AU - Nienaber-Rousseau, Cornelie

AU - Min, Josine L

AU - Green, Fiona

AU - Elliott, Hannah R

AU - Pieters, Marlien

PY - 2021/3/8

Y1 - 2021/3/8

N2 - Aims: DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks are widely used to estimate biological age, although limited data are available on non-European ethnicities. Here, we characterize the behavior of five DNAm clocks in 120 older Black South African men.Methods: We investigate the accuracy in age estimation by the Horvath, Hannum and skin and blood clocks and the relative age-related mortality risk and predicted time to death portrayed by the PhenoAge and GrimAge estimators, respectively.Results: We confirm the tendency of DNAm clocks to underestimate the biological age of older individuals. GrimAge more accurately characterized biological decline compared to the PhenoAge in this cohort, owing to the unique inclusion of smoking-related damage in the GrimAge estimate.Conclusion: Each clock provides a different fraction of information regarding the aging body. It is essential to continue studying under-represented population groups to ensure methylation-derived indicators are robust and useful in all populations.

AB - Aims: DNA methylation (DNAm) clocks are widely used to estimate biological age, although limited data are available on non-European ethnicities. Here, we characterize the behavior of five DNAm clocks in 120 older Black South African men.Methods: We investigate the accuracy in age estimation by the Horvath, Hannum and skin and blood clocks and the relative age-related mortality risk and predicted time to death portrayed by the PhenoAge and GrimAge estimators, respectively.Results: We confirm the tendency of DNAm clocks to underestimate the biological age of older individuals. GrimAge more accurately characterized biological decline compared to the PhenoAge in this cohort, owing to the unique inclusion of smoking-related damage in the GrimAge estimate.Conclusion: Each clock provides a different fraction of information regarding the aging body. It is essential to continue studying under-represented population groups to ensure methylation-derived indicators are robust and useful in all populations.

KW - biological

KW - GrimAge

KW - PhenoAge

KW - phenotypic age

KW - smoking

U2 - 10.2217/epi-2020-0333

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EP - 449

JO - Epigenomics

JF - Epigenomics

IS - 6

ER -

Comparison of DNA methylation clocks in Black South African men

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Keywords

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