Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Jun 14;229(6):1803-1811.
doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiae016.

Epigenetic Aging and Musculoskeletal Outcomes in a Cohort of Women Living With HIV

Stephanie Shiau  1 , Francesca Zumpano  1 , Ziyi Wang  1 , Jayesh Shah  2 , Phyllis C Tien  3   4 , Ryan D Ross  5 , Anjali Sharma  6 , Michael T Yin  2
Affiliations

Epigenetic Aging and Musculoskeletal Outcomes in a Cohort of Women Living With HIV

Stephanie Shiau et al. J Infect Dis. .

Abstract

Background: The relationship between accelerated epigenetic aging and musculoskeletal outcomes in women with HIV (WWH) has not been studied.

Methods: We measured DNA methylation age using the Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip in a cohort from the Women's Interagency HIV Study (n = 190) with measures of bone mineral density (BMD) and physical function. We estimated 6 biomarkers of epigenetic aging-epigenetic age acceleration (EAA), extrinsic EAA, intrinsic EAA, GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DNA methylation-estimated telomere length-and evaluated associations of epigenetic aging measures with BMD and physical function. We also performed epigenome-wide association studies to examine associations of DNA methylation signatures with BMD and physical function.

Results: This study included 118 WWH (mean age, 49.7 years; 69% Black) and 72 without HIV (mean age, 48.9 years; 69% Black). WWH had higher EAA (mean ± SD, 1.44 ± 5.36 vs -1.88 ± 5.07; P < .001) and lower DNA methylation-estimated telomere length (7.13 ± 0.31 vs 7.34 ± 0.23, P < .001) than women without HIV. There were no significant associations between accelerated epigenetic aging and BMD. Rather, measures of accelerated epigenetic aging were associated with lower physical function.

Conclusions: Accelerated epigenetic aging was observed in WWH as compared with women without HIV and was associated with lower physical function in both groups.

Keywords: HIV; bone mineral density; epigenetic aging; osteoporosis; physical function.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: No reported conflicts.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
A–F, EAA, EEAA, IEAA, GrimAge, PhenoAge, and DNAmTL in women with HIV (HIV+, n = 118) and women without HIV (HIV–, n = 72). Comparisons between groups were performed with t tests. ***P < .05. Line, median; box, IQR; error bars, 1.5 × IQR; circles, outliers. DNAmTL, DNA methylation–estimated telomere length; EAA, epigenetic age acceleration; EEAA, extrinsic epigenetic age acceleration; IEAA, intrinsic epigenetic age acceleration; NS, not significant.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hawkins KL, Brown TT, Margolick JB, Erlandson KM. Geriatric syndromes: new frontiers in HIV and sarcopenia. AIDS 2017; 31:S137–46. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jones HT, Levett T, Barber TJ. Frailty in people living with HIV: an update. Curr Opin Infect Dis 2022; 35:21–30. - PubMed
    1. Sharma A, Hoover DR, Shi Q, et al. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and menopause are independently associated with lower bone mineral density: results from the Women's Interagency HIV Study. Clin Infect Dis 2022; 75:65–72. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rakyan VK, Down TA, Balding DJ, Beck S. Epigenome-wide association studies for common human diseases. Nat Rev Genet 2011; 12:529–41. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jones MJ, Goodman SJ, Kobor MS. DNA methylation and healthy human aging. Aging Cell 2015; 14:924–32. - PMC - PubMed