Impact of age-related changes in buccal epithelial cells on pediatric epigenetic biomarker research

IF 14.7 1区综合性期刊 Q1 MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES

Nature Communications Pub Date : 2025-01-12 DOI:10.1038/s41467-025-55909-8

Sarah M. Merrill, Chaini Konwar, Fizza Fatima, Kristy Dever, Julia L. MacIsaac, Nicole Letourneau, Gerald F. Giesbrecht, Deborah Dewey, Gillian England-Mason, Candace R. Lewis, Dennis Wang, Ai Ling Teh, Michael J. Meaney, Andrea Gonzalez, Jennie G. Noll, Carolina De Weerth, Nicole R. Bush, Kieran J. O’Donnell, S. Evelyn Stewart, Michael S. Kobor

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Abstract

Cheek swabs, heterogeneous samples consisting primarily of buccal epithelial cells, are widely used in pediatric DNA methylation studies and biomarker creation. However, the decrease in buccal proportion with age in adults remains unexamined in childhood. We analyzed cheek swabs from 4626 typically developing children 2-months to 20-years-old. Estimated buccal proportion declined throughout childhood with both increasing chronological and predicted epigenetic age. However, buccal proportion did not associate with age throughout adolescence. Variability in buccal proportion increased with age through the entire developmental range. These trends held inversely true for neutrophil proportions. Correcting for buccal proportion attenuated the weak association with PedBE age acceleration to non-significance during initial estimation. Notably, correcting for buccal proportion attenuated the association of PedBE age acceleration with obsessive-compulsive disorder and strengthened the association with diurnal cortisol slope. Thus, the age-related change in children’s oral cells is a crucial consideration for cell type-sensitive research.

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来源期刊

Nature Communications Biological Science Disciplines-

CiteScore

24.90

自引率

2.40%

发文量

6928

审稿时长

3.7 months

期刊介绍： Nature Communications, an open-access journal, publishes high-quality research spanning all areas of the natural sciences. Papers featured in the journal showcase significant advances relevant to specialists in each respective field. With a 2-year impact factor of 16.6 (2022) and a median time of 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision, Nature Communications is committed to rapid dissemination of research findings. As a multidisciplinary journal, it welcomes contributions from biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences, aiming to highlight important breakthroughs within each domain.