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Donor hearts may take on the age of their new bodies | Scientific American (opens in a new tab)
scientificamerican.com · 2026-09-28
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Donor hearts may take on the age of their new bodies | Scientific American
scientificamerican.com · 2026-09-28
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10.64898/2026.09.15.751836v1.full
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Claim 1 of 5Not checkedA new preprint suggests transplanted organs may change to mirror the age of the recipient, not the donor, and that an old heart may become biologically younger after being transplanted into a younger recipient.View evidenceHide evidence
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Claim 2 of 5Not checkedIn mice, young hearts transplanted into older recipients appeared biologically older than expected, while old hearts placed into younger recipients appeared to have de-aged according to DNA methylation, epigenetic clocks, and other aging tests.View evidenceHide evidence
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Claim 3 of 5Not checkedThe study also found that the transplanted heart’s biological age in archived human biopsies was more closely associated with recipient age than donor age, and that some heart function measures in a larger human database tracked more closely with recipient age.View evidenceHide evidence
As stated11 human transplant recipients; database of hundreds of human transplant recipients
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Claim 4 of 5Not checkedThe article notes that the transplant did not appear to change the biological age of the recipient’s own heart, liver, or blood, but that transplantation itself caused pro-aging changes including increased inflammation.View evidenceHide evidence
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Claim 5 of 5Not checkedThe reporter includes caveats that the epigenetic-age models are still experimental, that the mechanism is unclear, and that much more work is needed before donor-selection practices could change.View evidenceHide evidence
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Crossref, Europe PMC, PubMed · 15 candidate papers
Review for "Sequencing method matters: differential performance of DNA methylation data acquisition in epigenetic clock calibration"
2025 · Crossref
Therapeutic Plasma Exchange: Current and Emerging Applications to Mitigate Cellular Signaling in Disease.
2025 · Europe PMC
Decision letter for "Sequencing method matters: differential performance of DNA methylation data acquisition in epigenetic clock calibration"
2025 · Crossref
DNA Methylation Analysis Identifies Novel Epigenetic Regions in Human Dilated Cardiomyopathy
The Journal of Heart and Lung Transplantation · 2025 · Crossref
Age related disorder in DNA methylation patterns underlies epigenetic clock signals, but displays distinct responses to epigenetic rejuvenation events
2022 · Crossref
And 10 more candidates considered.