ReviewHuman molecular genetics2013
Age-associated epigenetic drift: implications, and a case of epigenetic thrift?
Review in Human molecular genetics, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 179 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
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Who cites it
179 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Meta-analysis of DNA methylation aging signatures in 17 human tissues.Nature aging · 2026Pooled it
- The Impact of Psychosocial Stress from Life Trauma and Racial Discrimination on Epigenetic Aging-A Systematic Review.Biological research for nursing · 2022Pooled it
- The Relationship between DNA Methylation and Antidepressant Medications: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2020Pooled it
- Differential diagnostic value of PAX1 and JAM3 methylation for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia between premenopausal and postmenopausal women: a retrospective clinical study in China.Annals of medicine · 2026Article
- Integration of methylome and transcriptome reveals age-associated signatures of stage-specific dynamics and regulatory remodeling in dogs.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Evaluation of DNA methylation-based age prediction accuracy in leukemia patients using a six-CpG model trained on healthy blood.Forensic science, medicine, and pathology · 2026Article
- Neuronal HDAC9: A key regulator of cognitive and synaptic aging, rescuing Alzheimer's disease-related phenotypes.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- A machine learning approach to identify key epigenetic transcripts for ageing research in human blood (Epitage).Biogerontology · 2026Article
- Non-ablative fractional laser 1940-nm treatment modulates epigenetic signatures associated with skin aging in a split-face investigation.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Epigenetic entropy, socioeconomic differences, and health and lifespan in the Women's Health Initiative.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Unraveling the complexity of skin's biological aging utilizing epigenetic clocks.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Article
- Article
- Frailty in rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and axial spondyloarthritis: Current evidence and knowledge gaps.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2026Review
- Mechanistic redundancy and hierarchy of aging mechanisms: implications for strategies to extend healthspan and biomarker integration.Frontiers in aging · 2026Review
- FBLN2 promoter hypermethylation: a negative prognostic biomarker and anti-PD-1 response predictor in clear cell renal cell carcinoma via high-throughput CpG Island screening.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- The Association Study of Targeted DNA Methylation and Thrombophilia.Indian journal of hematology & blood transfusion : an official journal of Indian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion · 2025Article
- Escaping ageing through Cell Annealing-a phenomenological model.Cell research · 2025Article
- Methylation-based smoking signatures in blood and tissue samples for the prediction of self-reported smoking status and mortality in patients with colorectal cancer.Clinical epigenetics · 2025Article
- Human brain aging is associated with dysregulation of cell type epigenetic identity.GeroScience · 2025Article
- Emergence of CpG-cluster blanket methylation in aged tissues: a novel signature of epigenomic aging.Nucleic acids research · 2025Article
119 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
It is now well established that the genomic landscape of DNA methylation (DNAm) gets altered as a function of age, a process we here call 'epigenetic drift'. The biological, functional, clinical and evolutionary significance of this epigenetic drift, however, remains unclear. We here provide a brief review of epigenetic drift, focusing on the potential implications for ageing, stem cell biology and disease risk prediction. It has been demonstrated that epigenetic drift affects most of the genome, suggesting a global deregulation of DNAm patterns with age. A component of this drift is tissue-specific, allowing remarkably accurate age-predictive models to be constructed. Another component is tissue-independent, targeting stem cell differentiation pathways and affecting stem cells, which may explain the observed decline of stem cell function with age. Age-associated increases in DNAm target developmental genes, overlapping those associated with environmental disease risk factors and with disease itself, notably cancer. In particular, cancers and precursor cancer lesions exhibit aggravated age DNAm signatures. Epigenetic drift is also influenced by genetic factors. Thus, drift emerges as a promising biomarker for premature or biological ageing, and could potentially be used in geriatrics for disease risk prediction. Finally, we propose, in the context of human evolution, that epigenetic drift may represent a case of epigenetic thrift, or bet-hedging. In summary, this review demonstrates the growing importance of the 'ageing epigenome', with potentially far-reaching implications for understanding the effect of age on stem cell function and differentiation, as well as for disease prevention.
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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.