Meta-analysis of DNA methylation aging signatures in 17 human tissues.
Level 3 - non-randomized controlled study
Meta-analysis of observational human molecular profiles (graded by design analogy, not clinical CEBM).
PubMed 42362890 · doi:10.1038/s43587-026-01164-5
What was done
Authors conducted a meta-analysis of more than 15,000 human DNA methylation profiles across 17 tissues to evaluate whether aging-associated epigenetic changes follow consistent patterns across different organs. They analyzed methylation level shifts, variability, molecular disorder, and performed network analysis to assess gene connectivity and intervention modifiability.
What was found
Aging was associated with systemic shifts in methylation levels, increased methylation variability, and growing molecular disorder across tissues. Network analysis identified tightly connected gene clusters not modified by beneficial interventions, along with a modifiable cluster linked to NAD+ metabolism. The cell-adhesion gene PCDHGA1 was identified as a conserved hub across tissues. The abstract reports no numerical effect sizes or statistics.
Why it matters
This multi-tissue atlas maps conserved versus tissue-specific epigenetic signatures of human aging and highlights NAD+ metabolism and PCDHGA1-mediated cell communication as potential therapeutic targets.
Limits
The abstract provides no numerical effect sizes, variance estimates, or p-values. The analyzed datasets are observational profiling studies, and clinical characteristics of the sample sources are not specified in the abstract.
Cited by
- supports DNA methylation patterns can be used to construct organ-specific biological age estimators for individual organs such as the heart, kidney, and lung.