Epigenetic Aging Signatures In People With Hemophilia
Living with a chronic condition like hemophilia often raises questions about its long-term impact on the body, including how it affects the aging process. Scientists have been exploring “biological age,” which can differ from a person’s chronological age and is thought to reflect the wear and tear on the body. One way to estimate biological age is by looking at tiny chemical tags on our DNA, called epigenetic changes, specifically DNA methylation at certain “CpG sites,” which act like markers in a biological clock. This research investigated whether men with hemophilia show differences in their biological aging patterns. The study compared men with severe hemophilia, mild hemophilia, and healthy individuals to see if there were noticeable differences in their biological age or how quickly they were aging at a biological level. The findings indicated only weak evidence that severe hemophilia itself directly causes an accelerated rate of biological aging when compared to mild hemophilia or healthy controls. However, a significant discovery was that individuals experiencing hemophilic arthropathy, a type of joint damage common in hemophilia, showed an increased rate of biological aging. This suggests that while having hemophilia may not universally speed up the biological clock, the severe complications associated with the condition, such as joint deterioration, could play a role in accelerating the aging process.