---
license: cc-by-sa-4.0
task_categories:
- tabular-regression
tags:
- biology
- aging
- biomarkers
- epigenetics
- bioinformatics
- life sciences
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
language:
- en
pretty_name: ComputAge Bench
---

# ComputAge Bench Dataset

## Introduction

**DNA methylation** is a chemical modification of DNA molecules that is present in many biological species, including humans. 
Specifically, methylation most often occurs at the cytosine nucleotides in a so-called **CpG context** (cytosine followed by a guanine). 
This modification is engaged in a variety of cellular events, ranging from nutrient starvation responses to X-chromosome inactivation to transgenerational inheritance. 
As it turns out, methylation levels per CpG site change systemically in aging, which can be captured by various machine learning (ML) models called **aging clocks** 
and used to predict an individual’s age. Moreover, it has been hypothesized that the aging clocks not only predict chronological age, but can also estimate 
**biological age**, that is, an overall degree of an individual’s health represented as an increase or decrease of predicted age relative to the general population. 
However, comparing aging clock performance is no trivial task, as there is no gold standard measure of one’s biological age, so using MAE, Pearson’s *r*, or other 
common correlation metrics is not sufficient.

To foster greater advances in the aging clock field, [we developed a methodology and a dataset]() for aging clock benchmarking, ComputAge Bench, which relies on measuring 
model ability to predict increased ages in samples from patients with *pre-defined* **aging-accelerating conditions** (AACs) relative to samples from 
healthy controls (HC). We highly recommend consulting the Methods and Discussion sections of our paper before proceeding to use this dataset and build 
any conclusions upon it.

## Dataset description

This dataset was collected by combining publicly available datasets of DNA methylation in human blood and saliva samples from the 
[NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/geo/) (GEO) data repository according to the criteria described in [our publication](), 
and it comprises samples from patients with aging-accelerating conditions and healthy controls. From all these public datasets, we selected only samples that had 
annotated ages and conditions (some disease vs. healthy control).

All methylation profiling platforms in this dataset represent different generations of Illumina Infinium BeadChip human methylation arrays. 
Detailed documentation for these platforms can be accessed at the [manufacturer’s website](https://support.illumina.com/?tab=microarrays) 
(Methylation → Select One → Infinium Human Methylation 450K BeadChip or Infinium MethylationEPIC BeadChip).

The dataset consists of two main parts: data and meta. Data is stored with parquet in the “\~/data” folder and contains methylation profiles across samples, 
and meta contains additional information, such as subject’s age, gender, condition, etc., and is stored as “\~/computage_bench_meta.tsv”. 
Both parts are described further below in more details.

In total, the dataset comprises **10,404 samples** and **900,449 features** (DNA methylation sites) coming from 65 separate studies 
(some features are missing in some files). It is common for biological (omics) datasets to have N << P, so we had to put samples as columns and features as rows 
in order to save the dataset in the parquet format. We recommend transposing data upon loading in order to match with meta rows, 
as mentioned further below in the Usage Guidelines section.

Its main purpose is to be used in aging clock benchmarking (for more details on that, again, proceed to the Usage Guidelines section and don’t hesitate to visit 
[our paper]()). Nevertheless, you are free to use it for any other well-minded purpose you find suitable.

## Data description

DNA methylation per site can be reported in two ways: as **beta values**, or as **M values**. Briefly, beta values represent the ratio of methylated signal 
(probe intensity or sequencing read counts) to total signal per site (methylation signal is measured as probe intensity or sequencing read counts), 
while M value is the log2 ratio of the methylated signal versus an unmethylated signal. A more thorough explanation can be found in 
[Du et al., 2010](https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2105-11-587).

In the original datasets deposited on GEO, therefore, DNA methylation values were represented either as a beta fraction (ranging from 0 to 1), 
beta percentages (ranging from 0 to 100), or M-values (can be both negative and positive, equals 0 when beta equals 0.5). We converted all data 
to the beta-value fractions ranging from 0 to 1. The values outside this range were treated as missing values (NaNs), as they are not biological.

In each dataset, only samples that appeared in the cleaned meta table (that is, were relevant for benchmarking) were retained.

### Row names

DNA methylation site IDs according to the output from a methylation profiling platform. 

### Column names

GEO sample IDs.

## Meta description

### Row names

GEO sample IDs, as in data columns

### Column names

**DatasetID**: GEO ID of a dataset that contains a respective sample.

**PlatformID**: GEO ID of a platform that was used to obtain a respective sample. 
Platform IDs can be mapped to the common platform names (that represent an approximate number of profiled methylation sites) as follows:
GPL8490 = 27K, GPL13534 = 450K, GPL16304 = 450K, GPL21145 = 850K/EPIC, GPL23976 = 850K/EPIC, GPL29753 = 850K/EPIC.

**Tissue**: sample source tissue. “*Blood*” stands for peripheral blood samples, “*Saliva*” stands for saliva spit samples, and “*Buccal*” stands for buccal swab samples.

**CellType**: sample cell type. Either a specific cell population (mostly immune cell subtypes with cell type-specific molecular markers) 
or broader sample categories such as whole blood, buffy coat, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), or peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL). 
Some samples lack cell type annotation.

**Gender**: abbreviated sample donor gender. *M* = Male, *F* = Female, *O* = Other, *U* = Unknown.

**Age**: sample donor chronological age in years (“float” data type). In the original datasets deposited on GEO, 
it can be either rounded by the researchers to full years, or converted from months, weeks, or days. Where available, we calculated years from the smaller units.

**Condition**: health or disease state of a sample donor.

**Class**:  class of the respective sample condition. Healthy control samples (HC) are included in a separate healthy control class with the same abbreviation (HC).

## Usage Guidelines

<...>

## Additional Information

### Licensing Information

The dataset is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA) v4.0 license.

### Citation Information

[Citation to be published]