Blood DNA methylation age is not associated with cognitive functioning in middle-aged monozygotic twins

A Starnawska; Q Tan; A Lenart; M McGue; O Mors; A D Børglum; K Christensen; M Nyegaard; L Christiansen

doi:10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.10.025

Blood DNA methylation age is not associated with cognitive functioning in middle-aged monozygotic twins

Neurobiol Aging. 2017 Feb:50:60-63. doi: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.10.025. Epub 2016 Nov 4.

Authors

A Starnawska¹, Q Tan², A Lenart³, M McGue⁴, O Mors⁵, A D Børglum⁶, K Christensen⁷, M Nyegaard⁶, L Christiansen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. Electronic address: as@biomed.au.dk.
² The Danish Aging Research Center, and The Danish Twin Registry, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Department of Clinical Genetics, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
³ Max Planck Odense Center on the Biodemography of Aging, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.
⁴ The Danish Aging Research Center, and The Danish Twin Registry, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
⁵ The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark; Psychosis Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark.
⁶ Department of Biomedicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark; The Lundbeck Foundation Initiative for Integrative Psychiatric Research, iPSYCH, Aarhus, Denmark; Center for Integrative Sequencing, iSEQ, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
⁷ The Danish Aging Research Center, and The Danish Twin Registry, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark; Department of Clinical Genetics, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark; Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark.
⁸ The Danish Aging Research Center, and The Danish Twin Registry, Institute of Public Health, University of Southern Denmark, Odense, Denmark.

PMID: 27889677
DOI: 10.1016/j.neurobiolaging.2016.10.025

Abstract

The epigenetic clock, also known as DNA methylation age (DNAmAge), represents age-related changes of DNA methylation at multiple sites of the genome and is suggested to be a biomarker for biological age. Elevated blood DNAmAge is associated with all-cause mortality, with the strongest effects reported in a recent intrapair twin study where epigenetically older twins had increased mortality risk in comparison to their co-twins. In the study presented here, we hypothesize that DNAmAge in blood is associated with cross-sectional and longitudinal cognitive abilities in middle-aged individuals. In 486 monozygotic twins, we investigated the association of DNAmAge, difference between DNAmAge and chronological age and age acceleration with cognition. Despite using a powerful paired twin design, we found no evidence for association of blood DNAmAge with cognitive abilities. This observation was confirmed in unpaired analyses, where DNAmAge initially correlated with cognitive abilities, until adjusting for chronological age. Overall, our study shows that for middle-aged individuals DNAmAge calculated in blood does not correlate with cognitive abilities.

Keywords: Cognition; Cross-sectional; DNA methylation; Epigenetic clock; Longitudinal; Monozygotic twins; Whole blood.

Publication types

Twin Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aging / genetics*
Cognition / physiology*
Cross-Sectional Studies
DNA Methylation*
Epigenesis, Genetic
Female
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Male
Middle Aged
Twins, Monozygotic*