Drs. Lishomwa Ndhlovu and Dr. Michael Corley in the Division of Infectious Diseases, along with the epigenetics company TruDiagnostic, have uncovered DNA markers associated with retroelements, remnants of ancient viral genetic material, in our genes that act as highly accurate epigenetic clocks predicting chronological age. The results support the idea that certain retroelements in the human genome may be involved in aging.
Dr. Michael Corley and Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu
Retroelements have been known to impact gene regulation, gene expression, genomic stability and the trajectory of various human diseases, but their potential as biomarkers for aging had been largely unexplored.
The study, published Aug. 2 in Aging Cell, concluded that these retroelement clocks embedded in the human genome capture unique signals of aging not previously recognized by other clocks that measure chronological age. Most aging clocks estimate a person’s biological age based on patterns of epigenetic markers—chemical tags called methyl groups that are attached to DNA and affect how genes are expressed. The pattern of methylation on retroelements seems to change as people age causing some genes to be more active which may lead to genomic instability, inflammation and age-related diseases.
“Now, with Retro-Age, we have greater insight and a fresh perspective into the aging process and a potentially powerful tool to predict biological age,” said first author Dr. Lishomwa Ndhlovu, the Herbert J. and Ann L. Siegel Distinguished Professor of Medicine and professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine.
“The reactivation of specific retroelements increases with age, potentially leading to biological hallmarks of aging such as inflammation, cellular senescence and genomic instability,” said corresponding author Dr. Michael Corley, assistant professor of immunology in medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Our findings indicate that retroelement clocks capture previously undetected facets of biological aging and may open the door to future treatments for these and other age-related conditions.” Read more in our newsroom article.