An epigenome-wide association study of sex-specific chronological ageing

Introduction Advanced age is associated with cognitive and physical decline, and is a major risk factor for a multitude of disorders including neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease. There is also a gap in life-expectancy between males and females. DNA methylation differences have been shown to be associated with both age and sex. Here, we investigate age-by-sex differences in DNA methylation in an unrelated cohort of 2,586 individuals between the ages of 18 and 87 years. Methods Genome-wide DNA methylation was measured on the Illumina HumanMethylationEPIC beadchip in a subset of unrelated individuals from the Generation Scotland cohort. Mixed linear model-based analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between DNA methylation and an interaction term between age and sex, as well as chronological age. Results At a genome-wide significance level of P < 3.6 × 10 −8 , 14 loci were associated with the age-by-sex interaction term, the majority of which were X-linked (n = 12). Seven of these loci were annotated to genes. The site with the greatest difference mapped to GAGE10 , an X-linked gene. Here, DNA methylation levels remained stable across the male adult age range (DNA methylation x age r = 0.02), but decreased across female adult age range (DNA methylation x age r = −0.61). The seven age-by-sex-associated genes were enriched among differentially-expressed genes in lung, liver, testis and blood. Conclusion The majority of differences in age-associated DNA methylation trajectories between sexes are present on the X-chromosome. Several of these differences occur within genes which have implicated in multiple cancers, schizophrenia and systemic lupus erythematosus.