Epigenetic aging clocks in 51 human intervention studies: responsiveness review
An abstract describes TranslAGE, a harmonized database of 51 longitudinal human intervention studies, in which 16 epigenetic clocks and 94 other DNA methylation biomarkers were recalculated to see how strongly they respond to aging-targeted interventions. [1]
Automatic summary · not editorially reviewed
The key findings
The abstract describes TranslAGE as a harmonized database of 51 public and private longitudinal interventional studies, with 16 epigenetic clocks and 94 other DNA methylation biomarkers calculated for each study. [1]
Clocks trained to predict mortality or pace of aging showed the strongest responses across all interventions and were consistent with one another. [1]
The findings are intended to help design future clinical trials, with the eventual aim of finding DNA methylation biomarkers usable as surrogate aging endpoints. [1]
The source at a glance
- Study type / format
- Abstract describing a harmonized database of longitudinal interventional studies
- Population / context
- Participants in 51 public and private longitudinal human interventional studies, as described in the abstract.
- Summary based on
- Study abstract
- Original publication
- August 21, 2026
TranslAGE database of 51 human intervention studies
The abstract describes TranslAGE as a harmonized database of 51 public and private longitudinal interventional studies in humans. For each study, the authors calculated a consistent set of 16 prominent epigenetic clocks plus 94 other DNA methylation biomarkers meant to help explain changes seen in each clock. The stated context is that aging biomarkers could let researchers monitor an intervention's impact without decade-spanning trials, but their responsiveness to aging-targeted interventions must first be tested.
Supporting source [1]
Mortality- and pace-trained clocks respond most strongly
According to the abstract, clocks trained to predict mortality or pace of aging showed the strongest responses across all interventions and gave consistent results with one another. Pharmacological and lifestyle interventions drove the strongest responses from DNA methylation biomarkers. Study population characteristics and study duration were key factors in how responsive these biomarkers were to an intervention. Clocks with multiple subscores, called 'explainable clocks', offered specificity and greater mechanistic insight than single-score clocks.
Supporting source [1]
Aim: guide trial design, not proven surrogate endpoints
The abstract says these findings can help design future clinical trials by guiding the choice of interventions and of specific subsets of DNA methylation biomarkers, to minimize multiple testing, study duration, study population and sample size. The eventual aim is to uncover DNA methylation biomarkers usable as surrogate aging endpoints. The abstract does not report effect sizes, which interventions were included, or whether any biomarker is already validated as a surrogate endpoint.
Supporting source [1]
How to interpret this
This is based on the abstract only; the full text was not reviewed. The abstract reports no effect sizes, no list of included interventions, no sample sizes per study and no validated surrogate endpoint. The described patterns are associations between interventions and biomarker responses, not proof that interventions slow human aging.
Based on the study abstract; the full paper, tables and supplementary data were not reviewed.
Source & supporting passages
Sehgal R, Borrus D, Armstrong JF, Gonzalez J, Kasamoto J, Markov Y, Priyanka A, Smith R, Carreras-Gallo N, Lasky-Su J, Dwaraka VB, Corley MJ, Higgins-Chen A. · europepmc.org · August 21, 2026