Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34174924›Full record

ArticleMolecular brain2021

Novel epigenetic clock for fetal brain development predicts prenatal age for cellular stem cell models and derived neurons.

Leonard C Steg, Gemma L Shireby, Jennifer Imm, Jonathan P Davies, Alice Franklin, Robert Flynn, Seema C Namboori, Akshay Bhinge, Aaron R Jeffries, Joe Burrage and 15 more

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular brain, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
23citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 12% 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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

23 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.

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  16. Fountain of youth-Targeting autophagy in aging.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2023
    Review
  17. Review
  18. Conserved gene signatures shared amongFrontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Review
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

25 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Leonard C StegCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Gemma L ShirebyCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Jennifer ImmCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Jonathan P DaviesCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Alice FranklinCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Robert FlynnCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Seema C NambooriCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Akshay BhingeCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Aaron R JeffriesCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Joe BurrageCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Grant W A NeilsonCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Emma M WalkerCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Leo W PerfectDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Jack PriceDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Grainne McAlonanDepartment of Forensic and Neurodevelopmental Sciences, King's College London, London, UK.
Deepak P SrivastavaDepartment of Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK.
Nicholas J BrayDivision of Psychological Medicine and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Emma L CopeSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Kimberley M JonesSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Nicholas D AllenSchool of Biosciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
Ehsan PishvaCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Emma L DempsterCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Katie LunnonCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Jonathan MillCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK.
Eilis HannonCollege of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter, RILD Building Level 3, Barrack Rd, Exeter, UK. e.j.hannon@exeter.ac.uk.ORCID 0000-0001-6840-072X
University of Exeter · GBCardiff University · GBKing's College London · GB

Funding

Department of HealthMedical Research Council G0700089Medical Research Council K013807Medical Research Council MR/L010674/2Medical Research Council MR/L021064/1Medical Research Council MR/L023784/2Medical Research Council MR/N026063/1Medical Research Council MR/R005176/1Medical Research Council MR/T033029/1Medical Research Council MR/W006251/1Medical Research Council N013255/1Wellcome TrustWellcome Trust GR082557
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and their differentiated neurons (iPSC-neurons) are a widely used cellular model in the research of the central nervous system. However, it is unknown how well they capture age-associated processes, particularly given that pluripotent cells are only present during the earliest stages of mammalian development. Epigenetic clocks utilize coordinated age-associated changes in DNA methylation to make predictions that correlate strongly with chronological age. It has been shown that the induction of pluripotency rejuvenates predicted epigenetic age. As existing clocks are not optimized for the study of brain development, we developed the fetal brain clock (FBC), a bespoke epigenetic clock trained in human prenatal brain samples in order to investigate more precisely the epigenetic age of iPSCs and iPSC-neurons. The FBC was tested in two independent validation cohorts across a total of 194 samples, confirming that the FBC outperforms other established epigenetic clocks in fetal brain cohorts. We applied the FBC to DNA methylation data from iPSCs and embryonic stem cells and their derived neuronal precursor cells and neurons, finding that these cell types are epigenetically characterized as having an early fetal age. Furthermore, while differentiation from iPSCs to neurons significantly increases epigenetic age, iPSC-neurons are still predicted as being fetal. Together our findings reiterate the need to better understand the limitations of existing epigenetic clocks for answering biological research questions and highlight a limitation of iPSC-neurons as a cellular model of age-related diseases.

Indexed as

Cellular SenescenceEpigenesis, GeneticModels, BiologicalBiological ClocksBrainDatabases, GeneticDNA MethylationFemaleFetusHumansInduced Pluripotent Stem CellsNeuronsPregnancyReproducibility of ResultsDNAm clockDNA methylationEpigenetic clockFetalInduced pluripotent stem cellsiPSC-derived neuronsNeurodevelopmentNeuronal precursor cells

Identifiers

PMID34174924
PMCPMC8236187
OpenAlexW3173353569

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.