DNA Methylation and Epigenetics 2.0

Dear Colleagues,

Recent studies highlight the epidemiological value of DNA methylation (DNAm) as a robust biomarker for healthy ageing and exposure to risk factors, with the possibility of identifying signatures for noncommunicable and age-related diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and mental disorders.

Besides recently developed epigenetic clocks, DNAm has been successfully used as a surrogate biomarker for different exposures, showing that, in some cases, DNAm surrogates predict diseases better than the measured risk factors themselves. DNAm characteristics can explain these counterintuitive results:

1. In many cases, DNAm is a more reliable biomarker than self-reported or measured exposures (e.g., for smoking).
2. DNAm variability includes individual genetic and metabolic profiles that can influence individual responses to exposure and stressors (i.e., the same amount of exposure can be more or less dangerous based on genetic profile and general state of health).
3. DNAm variations reflect long-term exposures and are more stable in time than other volatile biomarkers (e.g., blood-measured proteins and hormones).

Further investigations in this field may help us identify diagnostic and prognostic disease biomarkers (hopefully noninvasively by using blood/urine/saliva samples), molecular mechanisms responsible for the development of cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and mental diseases, as well as possible therapeutic targets.

Dr. Giovanni Fiorito
Guest Editor

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