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. 2023 May;40(4):407-411.
doi: 10.1080/08880018.2022.2101722. Epub 2022 Jul 21.

Epigenetic age acceleration among survivors of pediatric medulloblastoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor

Rachel D Harris  1   2 , Melissa A Richard  1   2 , Maria Monica J Gramatges  1   2 , Kevin Wilhelm  1 , Michael E Scheurer  1   2 , Philip J Lupo  1   2 , Austin L Brown  1   2
Affiliations

Epigenetic age acceleration among survivors of pediatric medulloblastoma and primitive neuroectodermal tumor

Rachel D Harris et al. Pediatr Hematol Oncol. 2023 May.

Abstract

Survivors of childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors experience early-onset aging-related phenotypes. DNA methylation (DNAm) age is an emerging epigenetic biomarker of physiologic age and may be predictive of chronic health conditions in long-term survivors. This report describes the course of epigenetic age acceleration using post-diagnosis blood samples (median: 3.9 years post-diagnosis; range: 0.04-15.96) from 83 survivors of pediatric CNS tumors. Epigenetic age acceleration was detected in 72% of patients, with an average difference between chronologic and DNAm age of 2.58 years (95% CI: 1.75-3.41, p < 0.001). Time from diagnosis to sample collection correlated with the magnitude of epigenetic age acceleration.

Keywords: Epigenetics; PNET; aging; medulloblastoma; survivorship.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
(A) DNAm age and chronological age of all participants with linear trend line. (B) Boxplots showing distribution of epigenetic age acceleration over time since diagnosis.
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