A Longitudinal Epigenetic Aging and Leukocyte Analysis of Simulated Space Travel: The Mars-500 Mission

🥈 Top 2% JournalNov 26, 2020Cell reports

Changes in Biological Aging and Immune Cells During a Mars-Like Space Travel Simulation

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Abstract

Mission duration of 520 days is associated with significant decreases in epigenetic aging biomarkers in astronauts.

Decreases in DNA-methylation-based aging metrics were observed during the Mars-500 mission.
DNAmPhenoAge showed significant decreases that persisted for 7 days after the mission.
Changes in the estimated proportions of immune cell types, including CD4T, CD8 naive, and natural killer (NK) cells, were noted.
Only the decrease in NK cells remained significant after the mission.

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Astronauts undertaking long-duration space missions may be vulnerable to unique stressors that can impact human aging. Nevertheless, few studies have examined the relationship of mission duration with DNA-methylation-based biomarkers of aging in astronauts. Using data from the six participants of the Mars-500 mission, a high-fidelity 520-day ground simulation experiment, we tested relationships of mission duration with five longitudinally measured blood DNA-methylation-based metrics: DNAmGrimAge, DNAmPhenoAge, DNA-methylation-based estimator of telomere length (DNAmTL), mitotic divisions (epigenetic mitotic clock [epiTOC2]), and pace of aging (PoA). We provide evidence that, relative to baseline, mission duration was associated with significant decreases in epigenetic aging. However, only decreases in DNAmPhenoAge remained significant 7 days post-mission. We also observed significant changes in estimated proportions of plasmablasts, CD4T, CD8 naive, and natural killer (NK) cells. Only decreases in NK cells remained significant post-mission. If confirmed more broadly, these findings contribute insights to improve the understanding of the biological aging implications for individuals experiencing long-duration space travel.

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