Association between age and repair of oxidatively damaged DNA in human peripheral blood mononuclear cells

It has been hypothesised that positive associations between age and levels of oxidative stress-generated damage to DNA may be related to an age-dependent decline in DNA repair activity. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between age and repair activity of oxidatively damaged DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). We isolated PBMCs from subjects aged 18-83 years, as part of a health survey of the Danish population that focussed on lifestyle factors. The level of DNA repair activity was measured as incisions on potassium bromate-damaged DNA by the comet assay. There was an inverse association between age and DNA repair activity with a 0.65% decline in activity per year from age 18 to 83 (95% confidence interval: 0.16-1.14% per year). Univariate regression analysis also indicated inverse associations between DNA repair activity and waist-hip ratio (P < 0.05) and plasma concentrations of glycosylated hemoglobin (P = 0.07). However, multivariate regression analysis only showed an inverse association between age and DNA repair activity (P < 0.05), indicating that the decline in repair activity was not mediated by metabolic risk factors. In summary, the results show an inverse association between age and DNA repair activity of oxidatively damaged DNA.