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Helen Arlandson. Photo: private photo
The results showed that the biological clock ticks faster in patients with chronic kidney disease compared to the average person, and this appears to continue even after dialysis treatment. However, biological clocks seem to tick more slowly after a kidney transplant, he says Helen Arlandsona PhD student in the same department and co-first author of the study, as well as chief physician at the Nephrology Clinic at Karolinska University Hospital.
Although epigenetic clocks all showed a similar picture, the research team found that none of the existing clocks were accurate in a clinical setting, and all proved to be inaccurate to varying degrees when tested on healthy tissue over time.
A new type of watch has been developed
To address this problem, the Glasgow research team has developed a new, more precise genetic clock that works on both healthy and diseased tissue. The results of this new watch were consistent with what doctors have seen in patients with chronic kidney disease, and it also appears to provide an accurate assessment of healthy tissue.
Epigenetic clocks measure so-called DNA methylation, a type of chemical modification of DNA that affects, among other things, which genes are activated and which are not.
The process of DNA methylation is affected by what we eat as well as by the intestinal flora. Thus, this tool has the potential to evaluate lifestyle interventions, says Peter Steinfinkel and continues:
– We can use the tool to estimate the effects of interventions on biological age in patients with chronic kidney disease – a group of patients who often suffer from premature aging.
The research was funded by, among others, the Center for Innovative Medicine (CIMED), the Swedish Research Council, and the Heart and Lung Foundation. The researchers state that there is no conflict of interest.
Publishing
“Epigenetic clocks suggest that kidney transplantation but not dialysis ameliorates the effects of renal aging“, Ojnian Netchev, Helen Erlandsson, Anna Whitasp, Louise Nordfors, Abdul Rashid Qureshi, Ken Esiri, Hokuto Morohoshi, Colin Selman, Thomas Ebert, Karolina Kubelikian, Peter Stenwinkel, and Paul J. Shiels, Journal of Internal Medicine, Online 13 October 2023, doi: 10.1111/joim.13724
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