Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a therapeutic procedure performed over a wide range of donor and recipient age combinations, representing natural experiments of how the age of the recipient affects aging in transplanted donor cells in vivo. We measured DNA methylation and epigenetic aging in donors and recipients and found that biological epigenetic clocks are accelerated in cells transplanted into an older body and decelerated in a younger body. This is the first evidence that the age of the circulating environment influences human epigenetic aging in vivo.
Keywords: aging; epigenetic; hematopoietic; hsc; human; parabiosis; transplantation.
© 2024 The Authors. Aging Cell published by Anatomical Society and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.