| 摘要 |
The invention relates to a method and kit for determining the age of a human donor, preferably the biological age of a human donor. The Method according to the invention comprises providing blood cells of the donor, determining a methylation level of at least one CpG-dinucleotide of a specific region of at least one chromosome of the blood cells, and determining the age of the donor by comparing the determined methylation level with empirically determined data representing a correlation between the methylation level of the CpG-dinucleotide and the chronological age of at least one human individual. Surprisingly, this correlation is observed in all blood cell types so that the age of the donor can be determined directly from blood samples. It is demonstrated that there is a straight proportional change of the methylation level of specific CpG-dinucleotides with increasing age, so that it is possible to predict the age of the donor, even if no positive or negative control is available. |
