Reverse Inflammaging: Biological age is accelerated in chronic HCV patients and decelerates after HCV cure

Background and AIM Recently, HIV and HBV infections have been shown to cause significant biological age acceleration. Accelerated epigenetic or biological age may be a predictor of all-cause and cancer mortality. Thus, we analyzed if HCV is associated with biological age acceleration and if this is reversible after HCV cure.

Methods We included well-characterized 54 patients (mean age 56 years) with chronic hepatitis C at three time points (baseline, end of treatment and follow-up 24-240 (mean 96 weeks) weeks after the end of treatment). Genome-wide DNA methylation data were generated using the illuminaEpic array on PBMC and were used to calculate 2 measures of epigenetic age acceleration (Horvath and Hannum AgeAccel).

Results Our results show that chronic HCV infection leads to a significant acceleration of epigenetic age (p=0.0015). While chronic HCV patients without evidence of cirrhosis have no significant age acceleration, patients with cirrhosis have a significantly higher biological age (3.15 yrs, p=0.0009). Treatment of cirrhotic patients with DAA results in reversal of age acceleration, but this effect is only detectable at long-term follow-up. There are no associated cell composition changes.

Interestingly, patients who developed HCC after SVR (n=8) have the highest age acceleration and show no evidence of reversion after treatment.

Conclusion Hepatitis C patients with cirrhosis show biological age acceleration that may be reversible after HCV cure. Lack of reversibility appears to be associated with HCC risk. Our findings underline the need for more individualized infectious disease medicine based on biological rather than chronologic age in the future.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
26. Januar 2022