- A new study of people with chronic kidney disease indicates there is accelerated biological aging from the disease.
- The researchers reported that the accelerated aging was slowed by kidney transplantation but not dialysis.
- Through this study, researchers say they were able to develop a more accurate “epigenetic clock” to help determine biological age in people with as well as without kidney disease.
In the study of aging, there are generally two categories: The age you have by the calendar and the age you are biologically.
The former is straightforward. Understanding the latter is very much an emerging science.
Key to this new science of aging is the concept of the “epigenetic clock,” which involves examining DNA for signs of aging and comparing that to a person’s chronological age.
Now, a research team from the Karolinska Institutet in Sweden and the University of Glasgow in Scotland believe they’ve developed a fitter, more accurate epigenetic clock from a study of people with chronic kidney disease.
Looking at a cohort of 400 people with chronic kidney disease and 100 “control” participants, the research team used existing measures of biological age to compare the effects of dialysis treatment and kidney transplantation on patients’ epigenetic clocks compared to healthy tissue.
People with chronic kidney disease were chosen partly because the condition is known to produce hallmarks of accelerated aging, making it a good target for this sort of study
Their researchers’ findings were published in the Journal of Internal Medicine.
“Biological age provides a more comprehensive understanding of a person’s aging process and reflects how well their body is functioning compared to what is expected at their chronological age,” said Gil Blander, PhD, the founder and chief scientific officer at biomedical company InsideTracker who was not involved in the study.
The researchers looked at a group of 47 people after they began kidney dialysis or one year…
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