DNA methylation age acceleration is associated with ALS age of onset and survival
Ming Zhang, Paul M. McKeever, Zhengrui Xi, Danielle Moreno, Christine Sato, Tessa Bergsma, Philip McGoldrick, Julia Keith, Janice Robertson, Lorne Zinman, Ekaterina Rogaeva
Abstract
C9orf72-carriers and identical twins DNA methylation (DNAm) is a key epigenetic modification and linked to the risk of several neurodegenerative diseases (Supplementary introduction). The cumulative assessment of DNAm levels at age-related CpGs allows the estimation of multi-tissue DNAm age (epigenetic clock), which could be more accurate for assessing biological age than chronological age. Hypermethylation of the CpG-island 5 of the C9orf72-repeat and DNAm-age acceleration have been reported to be associated with C9orf72-disease duration and age of onset However, epigenetic modifiers in genetically unexplained ALS patients are largely unknown.