Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40689873›Full record

ArticleAging2025

The influence of cancer on a forensic age estimation tool.

Charlotte Sutter, Daniel Helbling, Cordula Haas, Jacqueline Neubauer

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Aging, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing 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

2 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
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

4 authors.

Charlotte SutterZurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland.
Daniel HelblingOnkozentrum Zurich, Zurich 8038, Switzerland.
Cordula HaasZurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland.
Jacqueline NeubauerZurich Institute of Forensic Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich 8006, Switzerland.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The use of epigenetic clocks for measuring age acceleration in the field of cancer research has been a common practice for many years. In forensic genetics, DNA methylation can be used to estimate the age of a stain donor. As lifestyle and disease can alter a person's methylation profile, the accuracy of forensic age estimation tools might decrease compared to the chronological age when estimating a person affected by cancer. In our study, we applied the VISAGE enhanced age estimation tool on blood samples from cancer patients suffering from a variety of cancer entities, including solid and hematologic tumours. A comparison of the age estimation errors between the cancer patients (n = 100) and a healthy control cohort (n = 102) revealed small statistically significant differences and a tendency towards age acceleration in the blood of these patients. Although this study showed that in patients with aggressive cancers (like CLL or AML) estimation accuracy is clearly decreased, for most entities the observed differences were subtle and an analysis of individual CpG sites did not reveal strikingly different methylation patterns. Conclusively, age estimation on blood stains from cancer patients might not result in significantly higher estimation errors, except for very aggressive forms of cancer.

Indexed as

AgingDNA MethylationForensic GeneticsNeoplasmsAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMaleMiddle Agedage accelerationage predictioncancerDNA methylationforensic age estimation

Identifiers

PMID40689873
PMCPMC12339023

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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.