Researchers from the ALFA Score Consortium explore how nutrition and physical exercise can positively impact the aging process by modifying epigenetic changes. They find that healthy aging is associated with more tightly condensed chromatin, fewer histone post-translational modifications, and greater regulation by non-coding RNAs.
A study published in BMC Medicine found that newborns of obese fathers have lower DNA methylation levels of the IGF2 gene, which codes for a growth factor important during fetal development. This can lead to increased cancer risk later in life.
Researchers found that hypomethylation, a process triggered by some anti-cancer drugs, can cause tumors in mice. The study suggests that these drugs may do harm as well as good, and highlights the need for further research into the effects of hypomethylation on cancer development in different tissues.