Research Paper|Volume 10, Issue 2|pp 241—252

Modified aging of elite athletes revealed by analysis of epigenetic age markers

Magdalena Spólnicka¹, Ewelina Pośpiech², Jakub Grzegorz Adamczyk^3,⁷, Ana Freire-Aradas⁴, Beata Pepłońska⁵, Renata Zbieć-Piekarska¹, Żanetta Makowska¹, Anna Pięta¹, Maria Victoria Lareu⁴, Christopher Phillips⁴, Rafał Płoski⁶, Cezary Żekanowski³, Wojciech Branicki^1,²

¹Central Forensic Laboratory of the Police, Warsaw, Poland
²Malopolska Centre of Biotechnology of the Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland
³Department of Theory of Sport, Józef Pilsudski University of Physical Education in Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
⁴Forensic Genetics Unit, Institute of Forensic Sciences, University of Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
⁵Laboratory of Neurogenetics, Department of Neurodegenerative Disorders, Mossakowski Medical Research Centre, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland
⁶Department of Medical Genetics, Centre for Biostructure, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
⁷Department of Rehabilitation, Physiotherapy Division, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland

Received: December 18, 2017Accepted: February 9, 2018Published: February 15, 2018

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.101385

Copyright: © 2018 Spólnicka et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

Recent progress in epigenomics has led to the development of prediction systems that enable accurate age estimation from DNA methylation data. Our objective was to track responses to intense physical exercise of individual age-correlated DNA methylation markers and to infer their potential impact on the aging processes. The study showed accelerated DNA hypermethylation for two CpG sites in TRIM59 and KLF14. Both markers predicted the investigated elite athletes to be several years older than controls and this effect was more substantial in subjects involved in power sports. Accordingly, the complete 5-CpG model revealed age acceleration of elite athletes (P=1.503x10^-7) and the result was more significant amongst power athletes (P=1.051x10^-9). The modified methylation of TRIM59 and KLF14 in top athletes may be accounted for by the biological roles played by these genes. Their known anti-tumour and anti-inflammatory activities suggests that intense physical training has a complex influence on aging and potentially launches signalling networks that contribute to the observed lower risk of elite athletes to develop cardiovascular disease and cancer.