Nicholas Holzscheck, Cassandra Falckenhayn, Jörn Söhle, Boris Kristof, Ralf Siegner, André Werner, Janka Schössow, Clemens Jürgens, Henry Völzke, Horst Wenck, Marc Winnefeld, Elke Grönniger, Lars Kaderali
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
The development of 'age clocks', machine learning models predicting age from biological data, has been a major milestone in the search for reliable markers of biological age and has since become an invaluable tool in aging research. However, beyond their unquestionable utility, current clocks offer little insight into the molecular biological processes driving aging, and their inner workings often remain non-transparent. Here we propose a new type of age clock, one that couples predictivity with interpretability of the underlying biology, achieved through the incorporation of prior knowledge into the model design. The clock, an artificial neural network constructed according to well-described biological pathways, allows the prediction of age from gene expression data of skin tissue with high accuracy, while at the same time capturing and revealing aging states of the pathways driving the prediction. The model recapitulates known associations of aging gene knockdowns in simulation experiments and demonstrates its utility in deciphering the main pathways by which accelerated aging conditions such as Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, as well as pro-longevity interventions like caloric restriction, exert their effects.
期刊介绍:
npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease is an online open access journal that provides a forum for the world’s most important research in the fields of aging and aging-related disease. The journal publishes papers from all relevant disciplines, encouraging those that shed light on the mechanisms behind aging and the associated diseases. The journal’s scope includes, but is not restricted to, the following areas (not listed in order of preference): • cellular and molecular mechanisms of aging and aging-related diseases • interventions to affect the process of aging and longevity • homeostatic regulation and aging • age-associated complications • translational research into prevention and treatment of aging-related diseases • mechanistic bases for epidemiological aspects of aging-related disease.