Epigenetic clocks suggest accelerated aging in patients with isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

Luca Baldelli; Chiara Pirazzini; Luisa Sambati; Francesco Ravaioli; Davide Gentilini; Giovanna Calandra-Buonaura; Pietro Guaraldi; Claudio Franceschi; Pietro Cortelli; Paolo Garagnani; Maria Giulia Bacalini; Federica Provini

doi:10.1038/s41531-023-00492-2

Epigenetic clocks suggest accelerated aging in patients with isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder

NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2023 Mar 30;9(1):48. doi: 10.1038/s41531-023-00492-2.

Authors

Luca Baldelli^#^{1

2}, Chiara Pirazzini^#³, Luisa Sambati², Francesco Ravaioli³, Davide Gentilini^{4

5}, Giovanna Calandra-Buonaura^{1

2}, Pietro Guaraldi², Claudio Franceschi^{3

6}, Pietro Cortelli^{1

2}, Paolo Garagnani³, Maria Giulia Bacalini², Federica Provini^{7

8}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences (DiBiNeM), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
² IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
³ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences (DIMEC), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
⁴ Department of Brain and Behavioral Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy.
⁵ Bioinformatics and Statistical Genomics Unit, Istituto Auxologico Italiano IRCCS, Cusano Milanino, Milan, Italy.
⁶ Institute of Information Technologies, Mathematics and Mechanics, Lobachevsky State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
⁷ Department of Biomedical and NeuroMotor Sciences (DiBiNeM), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. federica.provini@unibo.it.
⁸ IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy. federica.provini@unibo.it.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Isolated REM Sleep Behavior Disorder (iRBD) is the strongest prodromal marker for α-synucleinopathies. Overt α-synucleinopathies and aging share several mechanisms, but this relationship has been poorly investigated in prodromal phases. Using DNA methylation-based epigenetic clocks, we measured biological aging in videopolysomnography confirmed iRBD patients, videopolysomnography-negative and population-based controls. We found that iRBDs tended to be epigenetically older than controls, suggesting that accelerated aging characterizes prodromal neurodegeneration.