ReviewGenome biology2019
DNA methylation aging clocks: challenges and recommendations.
Open access · goldAbstract readReview
In one paragraph
Review in Genome biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 604 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
604citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
38.4field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
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.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
604 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 1,065 citations in OpenAlex.
- The impact of adverse childhood experiences on DNA methylation age: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Pooled it
- Chemical and climatic environmental exposures and epigenetic aging: A systematic review.Environmental research · 2025Pooled it
- Advancing Forensic Human Chronological Age Estimation: Biochemical, Genetic, and Epigenetic Approaches from the Last 15 Years: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Accelerated biological aging based on DNA methylation clocks is a predictor of stroke occurrence: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Effects of daily multivitamin-multimineral and cocoa extract supplementation on epigenetic aging clocks in the COSMOS randomized clinical trial.Nature medicine · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Human clinical trial of plasmapheresis effects on biomarkers of aging (efficacy and safety trial).Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Individual and additive effects of vitamin D, omega-3 and exercise on DNA methylation clocks of biological aging in older adults from the DO-HEALTH trial.Nature aging · 2025Trial
- Associations of breast DNA methylation-based measures of biological ageing with obesity-related breast cancer risk markers.Epigenetics · 2026Article
- Blood cell composition reveals distinct biological interpretation of DNA methylation age and age acceleration.Genome medicine · 2026Article
- Accelerated aging in schizophrenia: integrating epigenetic clocks, telomere dynamics, senescence-associated secretory phenotype, and oxidative stress.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Review
- Feedback loops between DNMT1 and autophagy as well as senescence promotes organ aging and canities.Autophagy · 2026Article
- Differences between mitotically old and young endometrial tumors.The Journal of pathology · 2026Article
- DNA methylation variability provides a complementary epigenetic signature of aging heterogeneity: Findings from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging and the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- System-Specific Epigenetic Aging Signatures in Autistic Adults.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Integration of methylome and transcriptome reveals age-associated signatures of stage-specific dynamics and regulatory remodeling in dogs.GeroScience · 2026Article
- Article
- Metabolic Profiling of Epigenetic Aging and Its Associations With Aging-Related Phenotypes and Modifiable Lifestyle Factors.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Chronological age estimation from DNA methylation data in a Serbian population: a SNaPshot-based forensic model.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Associations between diet quality, epigenetic aging and epigenome in two population-based cohorts.Nature communications · 2026Article
544 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
21 authors at 19 institutions in 6 countries.
Christopher G BellWilliam Harvey Research Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. c.bell@qmul.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0003-4601-1242
Robert LoweThe Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. rlowe.compbio@gmail.com.
Peter D AdamsSanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA. padams@sbpdiscovery.org.
Andrea A BaccarelliDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA. ab4303@cumc.columbia.edu.
Stephan BeckMedical Genomics, Paul O'Gorman Building, UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London, UK. s.beck@ucl.ac.uk.
Jordana T BellDepartment of Twin Research and Genetic Epidemiology, King's College London, London, UK. jordana.bell@kcl.ac.uk.
Brock C ChristensenDepartment of Epidemiology, Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Lebanon, NH, USA. brock.christensen@dartmouth.edu.
Vadim N GladyshevDivision of Genetics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA. vgladyshev@rics.bwh.harvard.edu.
Bastiaan T HeijmansMolecular Epidemiology, Department of Biomedical Data Sciences, Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, the Netherlands. b.t.heijmans@lumc.nl.
Steve HorvathDepartment of Human Genetics, Gonda Research Center, David Geffen School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA, USA. shorvath@mednet.ucla.edu.
Trey IdekerSan Diego Center for Systems Biology, University of California-San Diego, San Diego, CA, USA. trey.ideker@gmail.com.
Jean-Pierre J IssaFels Institute for Cancer Research, Lewis Katz School of Medicine, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, USA. jpissa@temple.edu.
Karl T KelseyDepartment of Epidemiology, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA. karl_kelsey@brown.edu.
Riccardo E MarioniCentre for Genomic and Experimental Medicine, Institute of Genetics and Molecular Medicine, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. riccardo.marioni@ed.ac.uk.
Wolf ReikEpigenetics Programme, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge, UK. wolf.reik@babraham.ac.uk.
Caroline L ReltonMedical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit (MRC IEU), School of Social and Community Medicine, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK. caroline.relton@bristol.ac.uk.
Leonard C SchalkwykSchool of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, Colchester, UK. lschal@essex.ac.uk.
Andrew E TeschendorffCAS Key Laboratory of Computational Biology, CAS-MPG Partner Institute for Computational Biology, Shanghai Institute of Nutrition and Health, Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 320 Yue Yang Road, Shanghai, 200031, China. a.teschendorff@ucl.ac.uk.
Wolfgang WagnerHelmholtz-Institute for Biomedical Engineering, Stem Cell Biology and Cellular Engineering, RWTH Aachen Faculty of Medicine, Aachen, Germany. wwagner@ukaachen.de.
Kang ZhangFaculty of Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macau. kang.zhang@gmail.com.
Vardhman K RakyanThe Blizard Institute, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK. v.rakyan@qmul.ac.uk.
Queen Mary University of London · GBBabraham Institute · GBBrigham and Women's Hospital · USBristol City Council · GBBrown University · USCancer Research UK · GBChinese Academy of Sciences · CNColumbia University Irving Medical Center · USDartmouth College · USEdinburgh Cancer Research · GBKing's College London · GBLeiden University Medical Center · NLMacau University of Science and Technology · MORWTH Aachen University · DESanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute · USTemple University · USUniversity of California, Los Angeles · USUniversity of Essex · GBUniversity of San Diego · US
Funding
True Metal fac coreP30ES009089 · NIEHS · COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HEALTH SCIENCES · PI MATTHEW S PERZANOWSKI · 1998 to 2026
$44.7MUniversity of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer SPORE-LeukemiaP50CA100632 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF TX MD ANDERSON CAN CTR · PI SHPALL, ELIZABETH J · 2003 to 2023
$43.7MThe role of hyaluronan in longevity and cancer resistance of longest-lived rodentP01AG047200 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER · PI Andrei Seluanov · 2014 to 2026
$36.9MSTRUCTURAL BASIS FOR EPIGENETICS IN AGING AND LONGEVITYP01AG031862 · NIA · WISTAR INSTITUTE · PI MARMORSTEIN, RONEN · 2008 to 2022
$28.3MTUFCCC/HC Regional Comprehensive Cancer Health PartnershipU54CA221705 · NCI · TEMPLE UNIV OF THE COMMONWEALTH · PI GRACE X. MA · 2018 to 2026
$16.3MA Systems Approach to Mapping the DNA Damage ResponseR01ES014811 · NIEHS · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO · PI IDEKER, TREY · 2005 to 2021
$8.6MChildhood adversity, DNA methylation, and risk for depression: A longitudinal study of sensitive periods in developmentR01MH113930 · NIMH · PURDUE UNIVERSITY · PI Erin Cathleen Dunn · 2017 to 2026
$6.6MMethionine sulfoxide reduction, selenium and agingR01AG021518 · NIA · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN · PI GLADYSHEV, VADIM N. · 2003 to 2018
$5.0MSelenoproteins as Targets for Cancer PreventionR01CA080946 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA LINCOLN · PI GLADYSHEV, VADIM N. · 2001 to 2018
$4.5MMechanisms of lifespan controlDP1AG047745 · NIA · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI GLADYSHEV, VADIM N. · 2013 to 2018
$4.4MImmune epigenetic biomarkers of survival in glioma epidemiologyR01CA207360 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN FRANCISCO · PI WIENCKE, JOHN K. · 2017 to 2021
$3.8MAir Particulate, Metals, and Cognitive Performance in an Aging Cohort- Roles of Circulating Extracellular Vesicles and Non-coding RNAsR01ES027747 · NIEHS · HARVARD SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH · PI SCHWARTZ, JOEL D · 2017 to 2021
$3.7MBiotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/K010867/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/PO28187Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/R00675X/1Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BB/S020845/1Cancer Research UK 19169Cancer Research UK C18281/A19169Department of Health BRC369/CN/SB/101310Medical Research Council MC_UU_00011/5Medical Research Council MC_UU_12013/5Medical Research Council MR/K013807/1Medical Research Council MR/R005176/1NCI NIH HHS P50 CA100632NCI NIH HHS R01 CA080946NCI NIH HHS R01 CA207110NCI NIH HHS R01 CA207360NCI NIH HHS R01 CA214005NCI NIH HHS R01 CA216265NCI NIH HHS U54 CA221705NIAID NIH HHS R01 AI121226NIA NIH HHS AG031862-12NIA NIH HHS DP1 AG047745NIA NIH HHS P01 AG031862NIA NIH HHS P01 AG047200NIA NIH HHS R01 AG021518NIA NIH HHS U01 AG060908NIA NIH HHS U34 AG051425NIA NIH HHS U34AG051425-01NIEHS NIH HHS P30 ES009089NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES014811NIEHS NIH HHS R01ES014811NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES025225NIEHS NIH HHS R01 ES027747NIH HHS AG021518NIH HHS AG047200NIH HHS AG047745NIH HHS CA080946NIH HHS CA100632NIH HHS CA207110NIH HHS CA207360NIH HHS CA214005NIH HHS CA216265NIH HHS CA221705NIH HHS P30 ES009089NIH HHS R01 ES025225NIH HHS R01 ES027747NIH HHS RO1AI121226NIH HHS RO1MDO1430401NIH HHS RO1MH113930NIMH NIH HHS R01 MH113930
Abstract
Epigenetic clocks comprise a set of CpG sites whose DNA methylation levels measure subject age. These clocks are acknowledged as a highly accurate molecular correlate of chronological age in humans and other vertebrates. Also, extensive research is aimed at their potential to quantify biological aging rates and test longevity or rejuvenating interventions. Here, we discuss key challenges to understand clock mechanisms and biomarker utility. This requires dissecting the drivers and regulators of age-related changes in single-cell, tissue- and disease-specific models, as well as exploring other epigenomic marks, longitudinal and diverse population studies, and non-human models. We also highlight important ethical issues in forensic age determination and predicting the trajectory of biological aging in an individual.
Indexed as
Biological ClocksDNA MethylationEpigenesis, GeneticAgingAnimalsGenome, HumanGenome-Wide Association StudyHumans
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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.