IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-55909-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of age-related changes in buccal epithelial cells on pediatric epigenetic biomarker research

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah M. Merrill

    (University of Massachusetts Lowell
    University of British Columbia)

  • Chaini Konwar

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia)

  • Fizza Fatima

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia)

  • Kristy Dever

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia)

  • Julia L. MacIsaac

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia)

  • Nicole Letourneau

    (University of Calgary
    University of Calgary)

  • Gerald F. Giesbrecht

    (University of Calgary
    University of Calgary
    University of Calgary)

  • Deborah Dewey

    (University of Calgary
    University of Calgary
    University of Calgary)

  • Gillian England-Mason

    (University of Calgary
    University of Calgary)

  • Candace R. Lewis

    (Arizona State University)

  • Dennis Wang

    (Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
    Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
    Imperial College London)

  • Ai Ling Teh

    (Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
    Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR))

  • Michael J. Meaney

    (Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR)
    McGill University
    CIFAR)

  • Andrea Gonzalez

    (McMaster University)

  • Jennie G. Noll

    (University of Rochester)

  • Carolina Weerth

    (Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour and Radbound University)

  • Nicole R. Bush

    (University of California)

  • Kieran J. O’Donnell

    (Yale School of Medicine)

  • S. Evelyn Stewart

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia)

  • Michael S. Kobor

    (University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    University of British Columbia
    CIFAR)

Abstract

Cheek swabs, heterogeneous samples consisting primarily of buccal epithelial cells, are widely used in pediatric DNA methylation studies and biomarker creation. However, the decrease in buccal proportion with age in adults remains unexamined in childhood. We analyzed cheek swabs from 4626 typically developing children 2-months to 20-years-old. Estimated buccal proportion declined throughout childhood with both increasing chronological and predicted epigenetic age. However, buccal proportion did not associate with age throughout adolescence. Variability in buccal proportion increased with age through the entire developmental range. These trends held inversely true for neutrophil proportions. Correcting for buccal proportion attenuated the weak association with PedBE age acceleration to non-significance during initial estimation. Notably, correcting for buccal proportion attenuated the association of PedBE age acceleration with obsessive-compulsive disorder and strengthened the association with diurnal cortisol slope. Thus, the age-related change in children’s oral cells is a crucial consideration for cell type-sensitive research.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah M. Merrill & Chaini Konwar & Fizza Fatima & Kristy Dever & Julia L. MacIsaac & Nicole Letourneau & Gerald F. Giesbrecht & Deborah Dewey & Gillian England-Mason & Candace R. Lewis & Dennis Wang &, 2025. "Impact of age-related changes in buccal epithelial cells on pediatric epigenetic biomarker research," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-16, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-55909-8
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-55909-8
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-55909-8
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-55909-8?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-55909-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.