Appolonia Adeyemi Researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that children living with multiple sclerosis (MS) show signs of accelerated biological ageing, even in their teenage years.
The research was published online recently in the journal ‘Neurology’. MS is a lifelong autoimmune disease that attacks the brain, spinal cord and optic nerves.
Senior author of the study, Jennifer S. Graves, M.D, said: “We found evidence that children living with MS experience accelerated biological ageing.”
Graves is a professor and vice chair of neurosciences and division chief of neuroimmunology at University of California (UC) San Diego.
“Compared to young people without MS, youth with MS had evidence of accelerated epigenetic age, a measurement of DNA chemical modifications associated with ageing.
“We know that ageing is related to the development of a less treatable form of MS and that adults with MS face both normal ageing and accelerated ageing from the disease.”
The research team used DNA methylation markers—molecular changes that indicate biological age—to analyse blood samples from 125 children with MS and 145 children without MS.
