Adverse conditions in early life, including environmental, biological and social influences, are risk factors for ill-health during aging and the onset of age-related disorders. In this context, the recent field of social epigenetics offers a valuable method for establishing the relationships among them However, current clinical studies on environmental changes and lifespan disorders are limited. In this sense, the Tlaltizapan (Mexico) cohort, who 52 years ago was exposed to infant malnutrition, low income and poor hygiene conditions, represents a vital source for exploring such factors. Therefore, in the present study, 52 years later, we aimed to explore differences in clinical/biochemical/anthropometric and epigenetic (DNA methylation) variables between individuals from such a cohort, in comparison with an urban-raised sample. Interestingly, only cholesterol levels showed significant differences between the cohorts. On the other hand, individuals from the Tlaltizapan cohort with more years of schooling had a lower epigenetic age in the Horvath (p-value = 0.0225) and PhenoAge (p-value = 0.0353) clocks, compared to those with lower-level schooling. Our analysis indicates 12 differentially methylated sites associated with the PI3-Akt signaling pathway and galactose metabolism in individuals with different durations of schooling. In conclusion, our results suggest that longer durations of schooling could promote DNA methylation changes that may reduce epigenetic age; nevertheless, further studies are needed.

中文翻译：

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受教育年限可以减少表观遗传衰老：一项针对墨西哥人群的研究


生命早期的不利条件，包括环境、生物和社会影响，是衰老过程中健康不良和与年龄相关的疾病发生的危险因素。在这种背景下，最近的社会表观遗传学领域为建立它们之间的关系提供了一种有价值的方法。然而，目前关于环境变化和寿命障碍的临床研究有限。从这个意义上说，特拉尔蒂萨潘（墨西哥）的队列在 52 年前就面临婴儿营养不良、低收入和恶劣的卫生条件，他们是探索这些因素的重要来源。因此，在 52 年后的本研究中，我们旨在探索此类群体中个体与城市饲养样本之间临床/生化/人体测量和表观遗传（DNA 甲基化）变量的差异。有趣的是，只有胆固醇水平在各组之间显示出显着差异。另一方面，与受教育程度较低的人相比，受教育年限较长的 Tlaltizapan 队列中的个体在 Horvath ( p值 = 0.0225) 和 PhenoAge ( p值 = 0.0353) 时钟中的表观遗传年龄较低。我们的分析表明，在不同受教育年限的个体中，有 12 个差异甲基化位点与 PI3-Akt 信号通路和半乳糖代谢相关。总之，我们的结果表明，较长的受教育时间可以促进 DNA 甲基化变化，从而降低表观遗传年龄。尽管如此，还需要进一步研究。