Evaluation of age-associated DNA methylation markers in colorectal cancer of Thai population

Abstract

Age prediction using biomarkers has been extensively studied which can be helpful in forensic and health sciences. DNA methylation has been demonstrated to be the most promising molecular biomarkers for age prediction in forensic sciences, and many prediction models have been developed based on blood samples. However, besides age, DNA methylation has also been affected by various factors, including diseases. To determine the effect of colorectal cancer (CRC) on age prediction, the present study analyzed DNA methylation of age-associated CpGs in the peripheral blood of CRC patients and matched controls aged 50–60 years using bisulfite conversion and pyrosequencing. The analyzed CpGs were in six genes (ASPA, EDARADD, ELOVL2, KLF14, PDE4C and TRIM59) constituted in three evaluated prediction models, namely Bekaert 2015, Thong 2017 and Thong 2021. Following the age prediction using these models, the results showed no significant difference of predicted age in CRC patients compared to the controls. This suggests that CRC may not influence DNA methylation of the selected CpGs and the accuracy of age prediction. The results from this study could provide helpful information for selecting DNA methylation-based biomarkers for age prediction.

Keywords

• DNA methylation
• Age prediction
• Colorectal cancer (CRC)
• Blood