Smoking-Related DNA Methylation is Associated with DNA Methylation Phenotypic Age Acceleration: The Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study

Yang Yang, Xu Gao, Allan C. Just, Elena Colicino, Cuicui Wang, Brent A. Coull, Lifang Hou, Yinan Zheng, Pantel Vokonas, Joel Schwartz and Andrea A. Baccarelli
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Yang Yang: School of Public Health, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Xu Gao: Laboratory of Environmental Epigenetics, Department of Environmental Health Sciences Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA
Allan C. Just: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Elena Colicino: Department of Environmental Medicine and Public Health, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY 10029, USA
Cuicui Wang: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Brent A. Coull: Department of Biostatistics, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Lifang Hou: Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Yinan Zheng: Department of Preventive Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA
Pantel Vokonas: Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study, Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System, Department of Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118, USA
Joel Schwartz: Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Andrea A. Baccarelli: Laboratory of Environmental Epigenetics, Department of Environmental Health Sciences Epidemiology, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, NY 10032, USA

IJERPH, 2019, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: DNA methylation may play a critical role in aging and age-related diseases. DNA methylation phenotypic age (DNAmPhenoAge) is a new aging biomarker and predictor of chronic disease risk. While smoking is a strong risk factor for chronic diseases and influences methylation, its influence on DNAmPhenoAge is unknown. We investigated associations of self-reported and epigenetic smoking indicators with DNAmPhenoAge acceleration in a longitudinal aging study in eastern Massachusetts. DNA methylation was measured in whole blood samples from multiple visits for 692 male participants in the Veterans Affairs Normative Aging Study during 1999–2013. Acceleration was defined using residuals from linear regression of the DNAmPhenoAge on the chronological age. Cumulative smoking (pack-years) was significantly associated with DNAmPhenoAge acceleration, whereas self-reported smoking status was not. We observed significant validated associations between smoking-related loci and DNAmPhenoAge acceleration for 52 CpG sites, where 18 were hypomethylated and 34 were hypermethylated, mapped to 16 genes. The AHRR gene had the most loci (N = 8) among the 16 genes. We generated a smoking aging index based on these 52 loci, which showed positive significant associations with DNAmPhenoAge acceleration. These epigenetic biomarkers may help to predict age-related risks driven by smoking.

Keywords: smoking-related DNA methylation; DNA methylation phenotypic age; aging biomarker; aging acceleration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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