Changes in DNA accelerate the aging process of the body

Research suggests that lifelong DNA changes can dramatically increase their susceptibility to heart disease and other age-related diseases.

Such alterations, known as somatic mutations, may affect the functioning of blood stem cells and are associated with blood cancers and other pathologies.

One study indicates that these somatic mutations and the associated diseases that they cause can speed up a person's biological age – the age of his body relative to his age – faster than his chronological age – the number of years of life.

Birth cohorts

A study by scientists from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow examined these changes and their potential effects on more than 1,000 Lothian generations born in 1921 and 1936.

The LBCs are a group of people – now aged 80 to 90 – who have passed intelligence tests at the age of 11. They are among the most researched research participants in the world.

Difference in age

Scientists studied people where biological and chronological age was separated by a large gap.

They found that participants with somatic mutations – about six percent – had a biological age almost four years older than those without alteration.

Experts say they will now explore the link between these DNA changes and the acceleration of biological aging.

The study, published in Current biology, was funded by Alzheimer's Research UK.

Previously, somatic mutations were widely studied in cancer. Our findings suggest that they play a role in other diseases, which will change the way we study the risk of disease, said Dr. Tamir Chandra, group leader at the Genetics Unit Human MRC of the University of Edinburgh.