SynthesisJournal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle2021
Meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation and integrative omics of age in human skeletal muscle.
Synthesis in Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 54 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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
54 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 83 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effects of exercise on peripheral blood DNA methylation and related epigenetic markers: a systematic review of human trials.Clinical epigenetics · 2026Pooled it
- ACTN3 c.1729C>T Polymorphism Might Not Be a Standalone Factor in Non-contact Musculoskeletal Injury: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Multi-ancestry whole genome sequencing analysis of lean body mass.Genome biology · 2025Pooled it
- Exercise is associated with younger methylome and transcriptome profiles in human skeletal muscle.Aging cell · 2024Pooled it
- Sex differences in muscle protein expression and DNA methylation in response to exercise training.Biology of sex differences · 2023Pooled it
- A meta-analysis of immune-cell fractions at high resolution reveals novel associations with common phenotypes and health outcomes.Genome medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analysis of genome-wide DNA methylation and integrative omics of age in human skeletal muscle.Journal of cachexia, sarcopenia and muscle · 2021Pooled it
- The Divergent Effects of Nicotinamide Riboside and High-Intensity Exercise Training on Skeletal Muscle Epigenetic Aging.Aging cell · 2026Article
- The OmniAge compendium of aging omic biomarkers links mitotic clocks to clonal hematopoiesis and causality.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Epigenetic Aging of Critical Illness Survivors Assessed by the Muscle-Specific "Clock" and Its Relationship With Reduced Long-Term Muscle Strength.Aging cell · 2026Article
- Epigenetic landscapes in human pancreatic islets reveal distinct drivers for adaptation to age and type 2 diabetes.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The Age-Dependent Resident Myonuclear Multi-Omic Response to an Acute Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophic Stimulus in Mice.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Repeated Disuse Atrophy Imprints a Molecular Memory in Skeletal Muscle: Transcriptional Resilience in Young Adults and Susceptibility in Aged Muscle.Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Article
- Emerging roles of epigenetics in the pathogenesis of sarcopenia.Epigenomics · 2026Review
- Multi-omics and molecular testing: A new insight into the genetic mechanisms of sarcopenia and arthritis.Clinical and experimental medicine · 2026Article
- Malnutrition-Sarcopenia Syndrome in older adults: Causes, consequences, and countermeasures.EXCLI journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Neural Cues and Genomic Clues: NGS Insights into Neurogenic Sarcopenia and Muscle Atrophy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- The Age-Dependent Resident Myonuclear Multi-Omic Response to a Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophic Stimulus.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Molecular Framework of the Onset and Progression of Skeletal Muscle Aging.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
28 authors at 11 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundKnowledge of age-related DNA methylation changes in skeletal muscle is limited, yet this tissue is severely affected by ageing in humans.
methodsWe conducted a large-scale epigenome-wide association study meta-analysis of age in human skeletal muscle from 10 studies (total n = 908 muscle methylomes from men and women aged 18-89 years old). We explored the genomic context of age-related DNA methylation changes in chromatin states, CpG islands, and transcription factor binding sites and performed gene set enrichment analysis. We then integrated the DNA methylation data with known transcriptomic and proteomic age-related changes in skeletal muscle. Finally, we updated our recently developed muscle epigenetic clock (https://bioconductor.org/packages/release/bioc/html/MEAT.html).
resultsWe identified 6710 differentially methylated regions at a stringent false discovery rate <0.005, spanning 6367 unique genes, many of which related to skeletal muscle structure and development. We found a strong increase in DNA methylation at Polycomb target genes and bivalent chromatin domains and a concomitant decrease in DNA methylation at enhancers. Most differentially methylated genes were not altered at the mRNA or protein level, but they were nonetheless strongly enriched for genes showing age-related differential mRNA and protein expression. After adding a substantial number of samples from five datasets (+371), the updated version of the muscle clock (MEAT 2.0, total n = 1053 samples) performed similarly to the original version of the muscle clock (median of 4.4 vs. 4.6 years in age prediction error), suggesting that the original version of the muscle clock was very accurate.
conclusionsWe provide here the most comprehensive picture of DNA methylation ageing in human skeletal muscle and reveal widespread alterations of genes involved in skeletal muscle structure, development, and differentiation. We have made our results available as an open-access, user-friendly, web-based tool called MetaMeth (https://sarah-voisin.shinyapps.io/MetaMeth/).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.