Research Paper|Volume 17, Issue 6|pp 1484—1510

Dynamic and reversible transcriptomic age shifts induced by COVID-19 in Korean whole blood

Kyungwhan An^1,², Yoonsung Kwon^1,², Jihun Bhak^1,², Hyojung Ryu³, Sungwon Jeon^3,^4,⁵, Dougu Nam⁶, Jong Bhak^1,^2,⁵

¹Korean Genomics Center (KOGIC), Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea
²Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Information-Bio Convergence Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea
³Clinomics Inc., Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea
⁴Geromics Inc., Suwon 16229, Republic of Korea
⁵AgingLab, Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea
⁶Department of Biological Sciences, College of Information-Bio Convergence Engineering, Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Ulsan 44919, Republic of Korea

* Co-senior author

Received: July 23, 2024Accepted: May 26, 2025Published: June 10, 2025

https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.206270

Copyright: © 2025 An et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Abstract

We developed the first genome-wide transcriptomic clock specific to Korean ethnicity to predict chronological age using whole blood samples from 440 healthy individuals. Our analysis revealed profound age acceleration – up to 21.31 years – during homeostatic disruption in COVID-19 patients, which reverted to baseline upon recovery. These findings highlight the ability of the blood transcriptome to dynamically track reversible changes in age-associated inflammatory responses during infections. Our study underscores the potential of anti-aging interventions in managing infectious diseases.