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Updated: Jun 10, 2025

Determining Genome-wide Transcript Decay Rates in Proliferating and Quiescent Human Fibroblasts
Published on: January 2, 2018
Expression of most retrotransposons in human blood correlates with biological aging
Yi-Ting Tsai1, Nogayhan Seymen1, I Richard Thompson1
1Comprehensive Cancer Centre, School of Cancer & Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Life Sciences & Medicine, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Retrotransposons (RTEs) have been postulated to reactivate with age and contribute to aging through activated innate immune response and inflammation. Here, we analyzed the relationship between RTE expression and aging using published transcriptomic and methylomic datasets of human blood. Despite no observed correlation between RTE activity and chronological age, the expression of most RTE classes and families except short interspersed nuclear elements (SINEs) correlated with biological age-associated gene signature scores. Strikingly, we found that the expression of SINEs was linked to upregulated DNA repair pathways in multiple cohorts. We also observed DNA hypomethylation with aging and the significant increase in RTE expression level in hypomethylated RTEs except for SINEs. Additionally, our single-cell transcriptomic analysis suggested a role for plasma cells in aging mediated by RTEs. Altogether, our multi-omics analysis of large human cohorts highlights the role of RTEs in biological aging and suggests possible mechanisms and cell populations for future investigations.
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