Abstract
Epigenetic (or DNA methylation) age is calculated based on methylation of certain cytosine-guanine (CpG) repeats, and it can accurately estimate one’s chronologic age. Importantly, epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) is highly predictive of age-associated morbidity and all-cause mortality. Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory skin disease with significant systemic disease burden. Here, we performed a pilot study to calculate EAA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded skin samples using Illumina Infinium MethylationEpic BeadChip arrays. Our results demonstrated no significant difference in intrinsic EAA among HS compared to controls (− 1.00 years, p-value = 0.52), significant increases in both extrinsic EAA (13.72 years, p-value < 0.001) and PhenoAge acceleration (7.72 years, p-value = 0.003), and a significant decrease in GrimAge acceleration (− 5.14 years, p-value < 0.001). Our findings suggest that the acceleration of epigenetic age in the HS skin may be associated with extrinsic immune-related changes and can potentially serve as a biomarker of the present and/or future disease burden in HS patients.
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Acknowledgements
We thank the Human Skin Disease Resource Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, which provided the funding, skin tissue specimens, DNA extraction service, and administrative assistance for this study. The Human Skin Disease Resource Center is supported in part by NIAMS Resource-based Center Grant # 1P30AR069625.
Funding
This study was funded by the Human Skin Disease Resource Center of Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, which is supported in part by NIAMS Resource-based Center Grant # 1P30AR069625.
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All authors have read and approved the final manuscript. Conceived the idea/experimental design of the study—AC and JSM; Performed data collection—DL, KP, and JSM; Data analysis and interpretation—PAC, RPF, AC, and JSM; Primary author—DL, KP, and JSM; Provided revisions to scientific content of manuscript—PAC, RPF, AC, and JSM; Provided funding—JSM.
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Lukac, D., Pagani, K., Collender, P.A. et al. Increased epigenetic age acceleration in the hidradenitis suppurativa skin. Arch Dermatol Res 315, 1037–1039 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-022-02432-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00403-022-02432-1