title: The epigenetic landscape of age-related diseases: the geroscience perspective.
abstract: In this review, we summarize current knowledge regarding the epigenetics of age-related diseases, focusing on those studies that have described DNA methylation landscape in cardio-vascular diseases, musculoskeletal function and frailty. We stress the importance of adopting the conceptual framework of "geroscience", which starts from the observation that advanced age is the major risk factor for several of these pathologies and aims at identifying the mechanistic links between aging and age-related diseases. DNA methylation undergoes a profound remodeling during aging, which includes global hypomethylation of the genome, hypermethylation at specific loci and an increase in inter-individual variation and in stochastic changes of DNA methylation values. These epigenetic modifications can be an important contributor to the development of age-related diseases, but our understanding on the complex relationship between the epigenetic signatures of aging and age-related disease is still poor. The most relevant results in this field come from the use of the so called "epigenetics clocks" in cohorts of subjects affected by age-related diseases. We report these studies in final section of this review.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.
authors.forename: Noémie
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8428-616X
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gensous
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Giulia
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Bacalini
authors.affiliation: IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Chiara
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pirazzini
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.
authors.forename: Elena
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Marasco
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Geological and Environmental Sciences, Laboratory of Molecular Anthropology & Centre for Genome Biology, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.|Interdepartmental Center "L. Galvani", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ravaioli
authors.affiliation: Interdepartmental Center "L. Galvani", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Giacomo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Mengozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bertarelli
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Giustina
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Palmas
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy. claudio.franceschi@unibo.it.|IRCCS Institute of Neurological Sciences, Bologna, Italy. claudio.franceschi@unibo.it.|Interdepartmental Center "L. Galvani", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy. claudio.franceschi@unibo.it.
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Franceschi
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental, Diagnostic and Specialty Medicine, University of Bologna, Via San Giacomo 12, Bologna, 40126, Italy.|Interdepartmental Center "L. Galvani", University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.|Center for Applied Biomedical Research (CRBA), St. Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital, Bologna, Italy.|Clinical Chemistry, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institutet at Huddinge University Hospital, S-141 86, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Garagnani
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000375:Aging / Q000235:genetics*; D001683:Biological Clocks / Q000235:genetics*; D035843:Biomedical Research / Q000379:methods*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D000073496:Frailty / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D005853:Geriatrics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009140:Musculoskeletal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics* / Q000401:mortality; D010641:Phenotype; D012307:Risk Factors
keywords: Age-related diseases; Aging; DNA methylation; Epigenetics