Pathway-level insights into the epigenetic ageing of human skin.
Skin ageing emerges from the interplay of intrinsic biological decline, environmental exposures and disease-related remodelling, yet the pathway-level epigenetic programs that integrate these processes remain largely unresolved. Here, we develop a skin-specific PathwayAge clock that aggregates DNA m...
| Published in: | Age & Ageing Vol. 55; no. 4; pp. 1 - 11 |
|---|---|
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press / USA
Apr2026
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | View this record in EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ssf&AN=193500107&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: ssf uiTerm: 193500107 longDbName: Social Sciences Full Text (H.W. Wilson) uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00020729 AGA jtl: Age & Ageing issn: 00020729 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Apr2026 vid: 55 iid: 4 pid: 622 pub: Oxford University Press / USA artinfo: ui: 193500107 10.1093/ageing/afag118 ppf: 1 ppct: 10 formats: tig: atl: Pathway-level insights into the epigenetic ageing of human skin. aug: au: Jiang, Jindou Li, Pan Zhu, Jijun Cai, Fuqiang Wang, Shenghan Huang, Zhongting Zhang, Shunjie Zhou, Fusheng Zhong, Wenwei Chen, Junfang affil: Department of Aesthetic Medicine Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou Medicine University, Guanzhou, China School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China The Tenth Affiliated Hospital, Southern Medical University (Dongguan People's Hospital), Guangzhou, China School of Biology and Biological Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China Center for Intelligent Medicine, Greater Bay Area Institute of Precision Medicine (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, China Department of Dermatology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, Anhui, ChinaInstitute of Dermatology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei 230032, Anhui, ChinaKey Laboratory of Dermatology, Anhui Medical University, Ministry of Education, Hefei 230032, Anhui, China Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Macau University of Science and Technology, Taipa, Macao Center for Intelligent Medicine Area Institute of Precision Medicine (Guangzhou), Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, ChinaCenter for Evolutionary Biology, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China su: Case-control method Genome-wide association studies Research funding Epigenomics Logistic regression analysis Mann Whitney U Test DNA methylation Machine learning Skin aging Overall survival Proportional hazards models Evaluation sug: subj: Case-control method Genome-wide association studies Research funding Epigenomics Logistic regression analysis Mann Whitney U Test DNA methylation Machine learning Skin aging Overall survival Proportional hazards models Evaluation keyword: aging copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 dna methylation epigenetic clock epigenetics https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag118 inflammation inLanguage:en PathwayAge photoageing publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42051143/ skin skin ageing skin aging solar degeneration aging copyrightHolder:British Geriatrics Society copyrightYear:2026 dna methylation epigenetic clock epigenetics https://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afag118 inflammation inLanguage:en PathwayAge photoageing publisher:Oxford University Press sameAs:https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42051143/ skin skin ageing skin aging solar degeneration ab: Skin ageing emerges from the interplay of intrinsic biological decline, environmental exposures and disease-related remodelling, yet the pathway-level epigenetic programs that integrate these processes remain largely unresolved. Here, we develop a skin-specific PathwayAge clock that aggregates DNA methylation into biologically interpretable gene ontology pathways, enabling both precise quantification of epigenetic age and mechanistic dissection of cutaneous ageing. The model demonstrates high accuracy and strong generalisability across multiple independent cohorts, providing a robust foundation for mapping pathway-level ageing biology in human skin. Comprehensive analyses reveal four core functional modules underlying skin epigenetic ageing, encompassing cellular process, stress and immune responses, developmental process, and signal and regulation. These programs show substantial concordance with systemic ageing pathways in blood, indicating shared epigenetic architecture across tissues. Sun-exposed skin exhibits pronounced age acceleration driven by oxidative stress, inflammatory activation and metabolic perturbation, defining the molecular signature of photoageing. In disease settings, actinic keratosis and squamous cell carcinoma display marked ageing acceleration with proliferative and extracellular matrix dysregulation; melanoma progression involves coordinated remodelling of stress, immune, structural and metabolic ageing programs; and psoriasis demonstrates inflammation- and differentiation-driven premature ageing. Together, these findings position the skin-specific PathwayAge clock as a mechanistic and quantitative framework for decoding intrinsic ageing, photoageing and disease-associated remodelling. This work advances a unified understanding of cutaneous ageing biology and provides a foundation for precision assessment and targeted intervention in skin ageing. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: N holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
|---|