Tissue sample type matters when measuring a person’s biological age, researchers report

Tissue sample type matters when measuring a person’s biological age, researchers report


First Generation Epigenetic Clock Distributions and Correlations. Credit: Aging cell (2025). Doi: 10.1111/acel.14451

People’s Bodies can be old or young for their chronological age, depending, in part, on the Amount and Types of Stressors that they have experienced. Scientists can estimate people’s biological age, but whether they use oral tissue or blood to make the measurement matters, according to a new study life Health.

Biological age – a measure of how well one’s body is functioning – Difers from chronological age -the Amount of time Since someone wasone wasone wase born. While Chronological Age Can Be Correlated to Disease Risk, Researchers and Medical Doctors Can Use Biological Age, Why Can Be Slowed or Accelerated by Environmental or Behaviral Factor, Estand a person’s risk for certain diseases, including cancers and dementia.

The correct type of tissue is Needed to Estimate Biological Age Accurately, According to the Study LED by Abner Apsley, Doctoral Candidate in the Penn State Molecular, Cellular, and Integragragrak Program, and His Adviser, Idan Shalev, Associate Professor of Biobehavioral Health at penn state. Their results were Published in Aging cell,

In recent years, researchrs created Several Epigenetic Clocks – TOOLS that Compare a Person’s biological age to their chronological age. As these clocks have become widely available, multiple companies have begun to offer services that estimate people’s biological age by compairing customer tissue Samples to esteblished Epigentic Clocks.

Researchers Construct Epigenetic Clocks by Collecting Tissue Samples from a Large Number of People and Examining Difference Differences in Epigenetic Markers – WHICH Indicate Points of Dna Methylation – Consumption. Using Machine Learning to Identify which Epigenetic Markers Predict Chronological Age, The Researchers Can then Determine If a Person’s Epigenome, Or the Set of Markers, MATHERALOGALGAL ADEE.

In theory, Knowing a person’s biological age could indicate what behavioors that person needs to modify in order to extended their life. In Clinical Settings, however, scientifically validated uses of Epigenetic clocks are not common Yeet, The Researchers Said.

“Aging is the main driver for a host of common diseases including Dementia, Heart Disease and Cancer,” Shalev Said. “Measurement of biological age is not a diagnosis of a health problem, but it can be used to identify a person’s risk for age-Related Conditions.”

Some Commercial Companies Offer to Measure Biological Age by Requiring Customers to Spit into a test tube and mail the sample to the company. The company analyzes epigenetic information in the saliva and uses established Epigenetic Clocks to Predict the customer’s biological age. Epigenetic Clocks, However, Are Most Commonly Created Using Blood, Not Saliva, Who is the Researchers in this Study Said They Wanted to Compare the Performance of Different Tisse Tissue-Sample Types.

The Researchers evaluated five types of tissue samples and compared them with Seven Epigenetic Clocks. The Study Included 284 Distinct Tissue Samples from 83 Individuals Between the ages of 9 and 70 years old. In Six of the Seven Clocks Tested, The Team Found That Oral Tissue Resulted in Substantily Less Accurated Estimates of Biological Age Than Blood-Bied Samples.

“We are tested three types of blood samples and two types of oral tissues – SALIVA and Cheek Swabs,” Said Apsley, The Lead Author of the Study. “For Almost Empi Epigenetic Clock, The Oral Tissue Led to Significly Higher Estimates of the Subject’s Biological Age. y clear that the tissue used to measure someone’s biological age Must match the tissue used when the clock was created.

Results from this study demonstrated that blood-tissue types LED to similar biological age sets across the decision Epigenetic Clocks. Oral tissue performed very different than blood tissue and was generally not as accurate, estimating older biological ages across the clocks. The one exception to this trend was the only Epigenetic Clock in the Study Created Using Both Blood and Cheek Swabs. For that clock, the age estimates Across different tissues were busy more accurate than they were on the other clocks.

“Most of the popular clocks were created Using Blood Samples,” Apsley said. “So, these results represent an important lesson for this burgeoning S Using these Tissues. Currently, Blood is Needed to Accurately Estimate Biological Age in Most Circumstans. “

While Tests of Biological Age Are Commonly Measured in Medical Settings Yet, The Researchers Said That BioLogical Age Goods BE Used SomeDay To Identate Patints who may Need Medication to Delaay The ONESET Ed disease due to their advanced biological age. Alternatively, Patients with delayed biological age might be better candidates for surgery than other people of the same chronological age. There are other uses for biological age estimates, as well.

“Researchers are still discovering how to apply biological age,” said shalev. “Our research focuses on medical applications, but epigenetic clocks have also been used with blood samples from crime Scenes to Help Forensic Scientists Ident o KnowS where this field will lead us next? “

Other Researchers who contributed to this study include Qiaofeng Ye, Christopher Chiro, John Kozlosky and Hannah Schreier of the penn state state department of biobeaviral health; Avshalom Caspi, Laura Etzel-House and Karen Sugden of Duke University; Waylon Hastings of Texas A & M University; Christine Heim of the Berlin Institute of Health at Charite; And jennie noll and chad shenk of the university of rochester.

More information:
Abner T. Apsley et al, Cross -Tissue Comparison of Epigenetic Aging Clocks in Humans, Aging cell (2025). Doi: 10.1111/acel.14451

Provided by pennsylvania state university


Citation: Tissue sample type matters when measuring a person’s biological age, researchers report (2025, February 5) retrieved 6 February 2025 from

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