Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39847262›Full record

ArticleGeroScience2025

Painful diabetic neuropathy is associated with accelerated epigenetic aging.

Katarzyna Malgorzata Kwiatkowska, Paolo Garagnani, Massimiliano Bonafé, Maria Giulia Bacalini, Luciano Calzari, Davide Gentilini, Dan Ziegler, Monique M Gerrits, Catharina G Faber, Rayaz A Malik and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in GeroScience, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. 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

14 authors.

Katarzyna Malgorzata Kwiatkowska *Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. katarzyn.kwiatkowsk2@unibo.it.ORCID 0000-0002-1536-5024
Paolo Garagnani *Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. paolo.garagnani2@unibo.it.ORCID 0000-0002-4161-3626
Massimiliano BonaféDepartment of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-5218-6551
Maria Giulia BacaliniDepartment of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences (DIBINEM), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-1618-2673
Luciano CalzariBioinformatics and Statistical Genomics Unit, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, Cusano Milanino, Italy.ORCID 0000-0003-4283-0988
Davide GentiliniBioinformatics and Statistical Genomics Unit, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, Cusano Milanino, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-8391-0725
Dan ZieglerInstitute for Clinical Diabetology, German Diabetes Center, Leibniz Center for Diabetes Research at Heinrich Heine University, Düsseldorf, Germany.ORCID 0000-0001-8956-3552
Monique M GerritsDepartment of Clinical Genetics, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-9503-9404
Catharina G FaberDepartment of Neurology, Institute of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Maastricht University Medical Centre+, Maastricht, Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-2467-067X
Rayaz A MalikInstitute of Cardiovascular Sciences, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, England.ORCID 0000-0002-7188-8903
Margherita MarchiDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, Neuroalgology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta", Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-5098-8534
Erika SalviDepartment of Clinical Neurosciences, Neuroalgology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta", Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0002-2724-2291
Giuseppe Lauria *Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Neuroalgology Unit, Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Neurologico "Carlo Besta", Milan, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-9773-020X
Chiara Pirazzini *Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.ORCID 0000-0001-8248-0295

Funding

H2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions 721841
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

About one out of two diabetic patients develop diabetic neuropathy (DN), of these 20% experience neuropathic pain (NP) leading to individual, social, and health-economic burden. Risk factors for NP are largely unknown; however, premature aging was recently associated with several chronic pain disorders. DNA methylation-based biological age (DNAm) is associated with disease risk, morbidity, and mortality in different clinical settings. The purpose of this work was to study, for the first time, whether biological age is involved in pain development in a huge cohort of DN patients with neuropathy assessed by anatomopathological assay (99 painful (PDN), 132 painless (PLDN) patients, 84 controls (CTRL)). Six subsets of DNAm biomarkers were calculated to evaluate NP-associated changes in epigenetic aging, telomere shortening, blood cell count estimates, and plasma protein surrogates. We observed pain-related acceleration of epigenetic age (DNAmAgeHannum, DNAmGrimAgeBasedOnPredictedAge, DNAmAgeSkinBloodClock), pace of aging (DunedinPoAm), and shortening of telomeres between PDN and PLDN patients. PDN showed decreased predicted counts of B lymphocytes, naive and absolute CD8 T cells, and increased granulocyte counts. Several surrogates of plasma proteins were significantly different (GHR, MMP1, THBS2, PAPPA, TGF-α, GDF8, EDA, MPL, CCL21) in PDNs compared to PLDNs. These results provide the first evidence of an acceleration of biological aging in patients with painful compared to painless DN. This achievement has been possible thanks to the state of the art clinical phenotyping of the enrolled patients. Our findings indicate that the aging process may be directly involved in the PDN progression and in general health degeneration in the T2DM patients. Therefore, it is possible to hypothesize that the administration of effective antiaging drugs could slow down or even block the disease advancement.

Indexed as

AgingAging, PrematureDiabetic NeuropathiesEpigenesis, GeneticNeuralgiaAgedBiomarkersCase-Control StudiesDNA MethylationFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedTelomere ShorteningBiomarkersAging biomarkerBiological agingDiabetic neuropathyDNA methylationEpigenetic clockNeuropathic pain

Identifiers

PMID39847262
PMCPMC12181573

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.