In Pediatric Onset Multiple Sclerosis, Biological Aging May Be Accelerated
A new study suggests that biological aging may be accelerated in children living with multiple sclerosis (MS), and that using biological rather than chronological age may be more precise when seeking to understand the aging effect. Findings were published in Neurology.
“We found evidence that children living with MS experience accelerated biological aging,” said Jennifer S. Graves, MD, PhD, senior author of the study, in a news release. “Compared to young people without MS, youth with MS had evidence of accelerated epigenetic age, a measurement of DNA chemical modifications associated with aging. We know that aging is related to the development of a less treatable form of MS and that adults with MS face both normal aging and accelerated aging from the disease.”
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Researchers performed a multicenter case-control analysis of epigenetic age in a prospectively collected set of whole blood DNA samples and clinical data from 125 children with MS and 145 children without. They used DNA methylation markers to analyze the blood samples. Epigenetic age was calculated based on 4 established epigenetic clock algorithms. Multivariate regression analysis, adjusted for demographic variables, was used to compare epigenetic age and age acceleration residual (AAR) between the two groups.
Overall, epigenetic age and AAR were greater in cases of children living with MS compared to controls after adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, tobacco exposure, and socioeconomic status. There was also a statistically significant difference for 2 of the 4 epigenetic clocks used (Horvath β = 0.31 years [CI = −0.32–0.94], p = 0.33; Hannum β = 1.50 years [CI = 0.58–2.42], p = 0.002; GrimAge β = 0.33 years [CI = −0.30–0.96], p = 0.29; PhenoAge β = 1.72 years [CI = 0.09–3.35], p = 0.004).
“We observed greater point estimates of epigenetic age in participants with POMS compared with healthy controls in all epigenetic clocks tested, the study authors concluded. “These results are consistent with those of studies in adult MS and suggest that accelerated aging may be present even in the youngest people living with MS.”
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