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A review of epigenetics and its association with ageing of muscle and bone.

A review of epigenetics and its association with ageing of muscle and bone.
A review of epigenetics and its association with ageing of muscle and bone.
Ageing is defined as the ‘increasing frailty of an organism with time that reduces the ability of that organism to deal with stress’. It has been suggested that epigenetics may underlie the observation that some individuals appear to age faster than others. Epigenetics is the study of changes which occur in an organism due to changes in expression of the genetic code rather than changes to the genetic code itself; that is, epigenetic mechanisms impact upon the function of DNA without changing the DNA sequence. It is important to recognise that epigenetic changes, in contrast to genetic changes, can vary according to different cell types and therefore can demonstrate significant tissue-specificity. There are different types of epigenetic mechanisms: histone modification, non-coding RNAs and DNA methylation. Epigenetic clocks have been developed using statistical techniques to identify the optimal combination of CpG sites (from methylation arrays) to correlate with chronological age. This review considers how epigenetic factors may affect rates of ageing of muscle and bone and provides an overview of current understanding in this area. We discuss studies using first-generation epigenetic clocks, as well as the second-generation iterations, which appear to show stronger associations with the ageing muscle phenotype. We also review epigenome-wide association studies that have been performed in various tissues examining relationships with osteoporosis and fracture. It is hoped that an understanding of this area will lead to interventions that might prevent or reduce rates of musculoskeletal ageing in later life.
Ageing, Bone, Epigenetics, Muscle, Review
0378-5122
12-17
Fuggle, Nicholas
9ab0c81a-ac67-41c4-8860-23e0fdb1a900
Laskou, Faidra
3959d6e2-ccfa-4d97-8311-16f27b893365
Harvey, Nicholas
ce487fb4-d360-4aac-9d17-9466d6cba145
Dennison, Elaine
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1
Fuggle, Nicholas
9ab0c81a-ac67-41c4-8860-23e0fdb1a900
Laskou, Faidra
3959d6e2-ccfa-4d97-8311-16f27b893365
Harvey, Nicholas
ce487fb4-d360-4aac-9d17-9466d6cba145
Dennison, Elaine
ee647287-edb4-4392-8361-e59fd505b1d1

Fuggle, Nicholas, Laskou, Faidra, Harvey, Nicholas and Dennison, Elaine (2022) A review of epigenetics and its association with ageing of muscle and bone. Maturitas, 165, 12-17. (doi:10.1016/j.maturitas.2022.06.014).

Record type: Review

Abstract

Ageing is defined as the ‘increasing frailty of an organism with time that reduces the ability of that organism to deal with stress’. It has been suggested that epigenetics may underlie the observation that some individuals appear to age faster than others. Epigenetics is the study of changes which occur in an organism due to changes in expression of the genetic code rather than changes to the genetic code itself; that is, epigenetic mechanisms impact upon the function of DNA without changing the DNA sequence. It is important to recognise that epigenetic changes, in contrast to genetic changes, can vary according to different cell types and therefore can demonstrate significant tissue-specificity. There are different types of epigenetic mechanisms: histone modification, non-coding RNAs and DNA methylation. Epigenetic clocks have been developed using statistical techniques to identify the optimal combination of CpG sites (from methylation arrays) to correlate with chronological age. This review considers how epigenetic factors may affect rates of ageing of muscle and bone and provides an overview of current understanding in this area. We discuss studies using first-generation epigenetic clocks, as well as the second-generation iterations, which appear to show stronger associations with the ageing muscle phenotype. We also review epigenome-wide association studies that have been performed in various tissues examining relationships with osteoporosis and fracture. It is hoped that an understanding of this area will lead to interventions that might prevent or reduce rates of musculoskeletal ageing in later life.

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Accepted/In Press date: 30 June 2022
e-pub ahead of print date: 11 July 2022
Published date: November 2022
Additional Information: Funding Information: FL is supported by the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, Nutrition, and the University of Southampton . This report is independent research and the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. These funding bodies had no role in writing of the manuscript or decision to submit for publication. EMD and NCH acknowledge funding from the UK Medical Research Council ( MC_PC_21003 ; MC_PC_21001 ). Funding Information: FL is supported by the NIHR Southampton Biomedical Research Centre, Nutrition, and the University of Southampton. This report is independent research and the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and not necessarily those of the NHS, the NIHR or the Department of Health. These funding bodies had no role in writing of the manuscript or decision to submit for publication. EMD and NCH acknowledge funding from the UK Medical Research Council (MC_PC_21003; MC_PC_21001). Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Keywords: Ageing, Bone, Epigenetics, Muscle, Review

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 472318
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/472318
ISSN: 0378-5122
PURE UUID: 0e6a146b-4b80-4d6e-86da-e5542c57c14b
ORCID for Nicholas Fuggle: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0001-5463-2255
ORCID for Faidra Laskou: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8481-6343
ORCID for Nicholas Harvey: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8194-2512
ORCID for Elaine Dennison: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-3048-4961

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 01 Dec 2022 17:35
Last modified: 12 Nov 2024 03:01

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Contributors

Author: Nicholas Fuggle ORCID iD
Author: Faidra Laskou ORCID iD
Author: Nicholas Harvey ORCID iD
Author: Elaine Dennison ORCID iD

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