Specifics of determination of human biological age by blood samples using epigenetic markers

Abstract

Our research focused on the selection of already known markers, as well as the search for other informative markers based on data made publicly available on the GEO NCBI platform (genome-wide DNA methylation projects using the Infinium Human Methylation 450K BeadChip (Illumina ©)). The main objective of the study was to demonstrate that the accuracy of determining the biological age of a person in the presence of chronic diseases using linear-dependent methylation markers is comparable to the accuracy of determining the biological age of a healthy person. Criminologists, as a rule, do not have information about the chronic diseases of a person who has left a biological trace at the scene (blood, for example). However, the lack of this information, as we have shown for some diseases, does not play a critical role in the precise determination of biological age. Additionally, an obstacle was removed when transferring the information content of markers from Infinium Human Methylation 450K BeadChip chips to SNaPshot technology. The analysis was carried out on a sample of 236 Belarusians, for whom the methylation profile for 7 Cpg markers is presented. It is shown that the information content of markers is preserved Our analysis shows the possibility of creating a universal test system for predicting biological age according to marker methylation. The system can be used in the work of most criminalists in the world with the same task.