Skin photoaging following sun exposure is associated with decreased epigenetic and biological age and correlates with basal cell carcinoma phenotype

Abstract

This study investigates epigenetic changes, specifically epigenetic aging, in an adult cohort of healthy individuals using four validated epigenetic clock algorithms and a DNA methylation-based estimator of telomere length. Our study demonstrates significant biological/epigenetic age dysregulation in sun-exposed versus sun-protected dermal and epidermal skin with strong correlation to the validated Helfrich skin photoaging scale, occurring in patterns that overlap with those seen in basal cell carcinoma. This work highlights the power of novel epigenetic analyses in studying photoaging and skin cancer predisposition.