Evidence map›Paper›PMID 19680444›Full record

ArticlePLoS genetics2009

Aging and environmental exposures alter tissue-specific DNA methylation dependent upon CpG island context.

Brock C Christensen, E Andres Houseman, Carmen J Marsit, Shichun Zheng, Margaret R Wrensch, Joseph L Wiemels, Heather H Nelson, Margaret R Karagas, James F Padbury, Raphael Bueno and 4 more

2 registry-linked trialsOpen access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS genetics, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 557 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
557citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
29.3field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

NCT03353597 phase1 / phase2unknown statusnot on this mapstarted 2018, after this paper: background citation

Reversing Epigenetic & Other Markers of Senescence by Transfusing Young Plasma To Older Human Subjects

TypeinterventionalSponsorChandra DuggiralaRan2018 to 2022Enrolled2,120ConditionsAgingArmsPlasma Transfusion
NCT03518996 nawithdrawnnot on this mapstarted 2018, after this paper: background citation

Non-Invasive Brain Stimulation and Delirium

TypeinterventionalSponsorGen ShinozakiRan2018 to 2022Enrolled0ConditionsMental Disorders, DeliriumArmsrTMS/iTBS/tACS, Sham TMS/tACS
3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

557 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,085 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Pooled it
  4. Pooled it
  5. Pooled it
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Embracing non-linearity in human ageing.Nature reviews. Genetics · 2026
    Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Article
  14. Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Trauma Exposure, PTSD, and Methylation of the Blood Brain Barrier Claudin-5 Gene.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Review

497 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors at 7 institutions in 1 country.

Brock C ChristensenDepartment of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA.
E Andres Houseman
Carmen J Marsit
Shichun Zheng
Margaret R Wrensch
Joseph L Wiemels
Heather H Nelson
Margaret R Karagas
James F Padbury
Raphael Bueno
David J Sugarbaker
Ru-Fang Yeh
John K Wiencke
Karl T Kelsey
Brown University · USNeurological Surgery · USCenter for Environmental Health · USHarvard University · USUniversity of California, San Francisco · USDartmouth Psychiatric Research Center · USUniversity of Minnesota · US

Funding

Tissue CoreP50CA097257 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI Joseph F Costello · 2002 to 2026
$57.4M
VARIATION IN BIOACCUMULATION AND BIOMAGNIFICATION OF METALS IN NORTHERN US LAKESP42ES007373 · NIEHS · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · PI STANTON, BRUCE A. · 1995 to 2019
$52.0M
GENETIC EPIDEMIOLOGY OF MALIGNANT GLIOMAR01CA052689 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI WIENCKE, JOHN K., WRENSCH, MARGARET R. · 1991 to 2015
$20.5M
UTERINE NK CELL HOMING FROM THE PERIPHERAL CIRCULATIONP20RR018728 · NCRR · WOMEN AND INFANTS HOSPITAL-RHODE ISLAND · PI BLISS, JOSEPH MARK · 2003 to 2011
$16.7M
NONMELANOMA SKIN CANCER IN NEW HAMPSHIRER01CA057494 · NCI · DARTMOUTH COLLEGE · PI KARAGAS, MARGARET RITA · 1993 to 2015
$10.9M
BIOMARKERS OF LUNG CANCER SUSCEPTIBILITY IN MINORITIESR01ES006717 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI WIENCKE, JOHN K. · 1994 to 2009
$8.9M
The Boston Collaborative Oral Cancer StudyR01CA078609 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI KELSEY, KARL TIMOTHY · 1999 to 2010
$5.3M
Patterns of Somatic Gene Alterations in Oral CancerR01CA100679 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI KELSEY, KARL TIMOTHY · 2004 to 2012
$2.6M
Biomarkers of survival in glioma epidemiologyR01CA126831 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI WIENCKE, JOHN K. · 2008 to 2013
$2.5M
The Epidemiology of Molecular Alterations in MesotheliomaR01CA126939 · NCI · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI KELSEY, KARL TIMOTHY · 2008 to 2012
$2.4M
The Molecular Epidemiology of Bladder CancerR01CA121147 · NCI · BROWN UNIVERSITY · PI KELSEY, KARL TIMOTHY · 2007 to 2010
$2.0M
NCI NIH HHS P50 CA097257NCI NIH HHS R01 CA052689NCI NIH HHS R01 CA057494NCI NIH HHS R01 CA078609NCI NIH HHS R01 CA100679NCI NIH HHS R01 CA121147NCI NIH HHS R01 CA126831NCI NIH HHS R01 CA126939NCI NIH HHS R01 CA52689NCI NIH HHS R01 CA57494NCRR NIH HHS P20 RR018728NIEHS NIH HHS P42 ES007373NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES006717PHS HHS P50 097257
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Epigenetic control of gene transcription is critical for normal human development and cellular differentiation. While alterations of epigenetic marks such as DNA methylation have been linked to cancers and many other human diseases, interindividual epigenetic variations in normal tissues due to aging, environmental factors, or innate susceptibility are poorly characterized. The plasticity, tissue-specific nature, and variability of gene expression are related to epigenomic states that vary across individuals. Thus, population-based investigations are needed to further our understanding of the fundamental dynamics of normal individual epigenomes. We analyzed 217 non-pathologic human tissues from 10 anatomic sites at 1,413 autosomal CpG loci associated with 773 genes to investigate tissue-specific differences in DNA methylation and to discern how aging and exposures contribute to normal variation in methylation. Methylation profile classes derived from unsupervised modeling were significantly associated with age (P<0.0001) and were significant predictors of tissue origin (P<0.0001). In solid tissues (n = 119) we found striking, highly significant CpG island-dependent correlations between age and methylation; loci in CpG islands gained methylation with age, loci not in CpG islands lost methylation with age (P<0.001), and this pattern was consistent across tissues and in an analysis of blood-derived DNA. Our data clearly demonstrate age- and exposure-related differences in tissue-specific methylation and significant age-associated methylation patterns which are CpG island context-dependent. This work provides novel insight into the role of aging and the environment in susceptibility to diseases such as cancer and critically informs the field of epigenomics by providing evidence of epigenetic dysregulation by age-related methylation alterations. Collectively we reveal key issues to consider both in the construction of reference and disease-related epigenomes and in the interpretation of potentially pathologically important alterations.

Indexed as

CpG IslandsDNA MethylationEnvironmental ExposureAdultAgedAged, 80 and overAge FactorsAgingEpigenesis, GeneticFemaleHumansInfant, NewbornMaleMiddle AgedOrgan Specificity

Identifiers

PMID19680444
PMCPMC2718614
OpenAlexW2077359776

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.