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Perspective

Age-Related Epigenetic Drift and Phenotypic Plasticity Loss: Implications in Prevention of Age-Related Human Diseases

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Pages 1637-1651 | Received 28 Jun 2016, Accepted 14 Sep 2016, Published online: 24 Nov 2016
 

Abstract

Aging is considered as one of the most important developmental processes in organisms and is closely associated with global deteriorations of epigenetic markers such as aberrant methylomic patterns. This altered epigenomic state, referred to ‘epigenetic drift’, reflects deficient maintenance of epigenetic marks and contributes to impaired cellular and molecular functions in aged cells. Epigenetic drift-induced abnormal changes during aging are scantily repaired by epigenetic modulators. This inflexibility in the aged epigenome may lead to an age-related decline in phenotypic plasticity at the cellular and molecular levels due to epigenetic drift. This perspective aims to provide novel concepts for understanding epigenetic effects on the aging process and to provide insights into epigenetic prevention and therapeutic strategies for age-related human disease.

Acknowledgements

The authors appreciate R Kala for proving insights for this manuscript.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (R01 CA178441; R03 CA176766) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (316184). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Cancer Institute (R01 CA178441; R03 CA176766) and the American Institute for Cancer Research (316184). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed. No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.