United States: The risk of death could be now predicted with the help of a test that uses cells from the inside of your cheek. It is expected that the test will be discovered in the upcoming year.
This discovery has been hinted at by research, which was published on October 1 in the journal Frontiers in Aging. The tool, which will use cheek to estimate the death time, has been named CheekAge. The tool will successfully and efficiently determine the risk of the individual dying within one year, according to livescience.com.
In a group of adults aged 69 to 101, the CheekAge test showed a strong connection to the risk of death from any cause. For every set increase in a person’s CheekAge, their risk of dying within the next 12 months rose by 21 percent.
Epigenetic clocks like CheekAge represent groundbreaking tools designed to assess a person’s “biological age” by decoding intricate chemical patterns attached to their DNA. According to David Furman, an associate professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, biological age often provides a far more nuanced understanding of one’s health status than simply counting the years they’ve existed.
The grand ambition of instruments such as CheekAge lies in their potential to decelerate or even halt the biological aging process. Yet, as both Furman and Maxim Shokhirev – lead author and computational biology expert at Tally Health – cautioned, these clocks do not yet offer guidance on how to achieve such feats.
What CheekAge Unveils – and Its Boundaries
Epigenetic clocks generally examine aging in various tissues, including blood, to forecast one’s chronological age, life expectancy, and predisposition to diseases like cancer. CheekAge, like many of its counterparts, focuses primarily on DNA methylation—a gradual accumulation of methyl groups onto the DNA strands, regulating which genes are activated or deactivated, as per livescience.com.
CheekAge was meticulously trained on cheek cell samples from individuals aged 18 to 93 years of age. The scientists correlated methylation patterns with health markers, such as stress levels, body mass index (BMI), and educational attainment. Through these factors, they formulated the CheekAge score, which gives a broader view of an individual’s health and biological age.
To test CheekAge’s reliability, researchers explored its connection to mortality risk using data from the Lothian Birth Cohorts—a longitudinal study tracking aging from childhood into adulthood. Blood samples were collected every three years from a pool of over 15,000 individuals, and scientists analyzed changes in DNA methylation at approximately 450,000 genomic locations. Mortality data was then matched with epigenetic markers to determine the strength of their predictive power.
In a surprising turn, CheekAge—initially trained on buccal (cheek) cells—demonstrated a robust correlation with blood-derived mortality data. As Shokhirev remarked, this suggests that CheekAge may be detecting conserved health signals that transcend specific tissue types.
The Present and Future Potential of CheekAge
Currently, CheekAge is utilized retroactively, analyzing data after outcomes—like death—are already known. However, the researchers now have the potential to apply these learned epigenetic patterns to estimate living individuals‘ mortality risks. Although they cannot predict death within a specific timeframe, the tool can indicate heightened or diminished risk across various causes of mortality, according to livescience.com.
Looking ahead, more research is needed to discern whether epigenetic clocks such as CheekAge can accurately forecast susceptibility to age-related conditions. Shokhirev emphasizes that this tool while promising, remains limited in its ability to prescribe specific interventions.
Steve Horvath, a pioneer in the epigenetic clock domain, underscores that the primary aim of these clocks is to unveil interventions that can potentially slow intrinsic aging processes. Yet, as he and Furman noted, consumers must approach these tests with caution. Commercial offerings like the TallyAge Test – a product from the same team behind CheekAge – lack uniform standards and pose a risk of misinterpretation.
Furman further warns that the science of altering the epigenetic landscape remains largely nascent. He views such clocks as useful to track lifestyle shifts – like changes in diet or exercise—but stresses that they currently fall short in providing actionable guidance on slowing biological aging.