Skin photoageing following sun exposure is associated with decreased epigenetic and biologic age, and correlates with basal cell carcinoma phenotype.

Abstract

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