New research conducted by UC San Diego researchers has revealed that adolescents and children having multiple sclerosis exhibit accelerated biological ageing. These findings were published in the journal Neurology. This study suggests that the changes linked to ageing could be happening earlier than had initially been thought among patients with MS.
MS, a chronic disease affecting the CNS (central nervous system), largely exhibits its effects on the optic nerves, the brain and spinal cord. Most research on this disease has focused on adults, and this UC San Diego study is the first to investigate biological ageing in younger individuals afflicted by multiple sclerosis.
For their study, the researchers obtained blood samples from 145 children without the disease and another 125 samples from children with the disease. Leveraging methylation markers for DNA, they were able to estimate the approximate biological age of the individuals from whom the blood samples were taken. This approach quantifies the chemical alterations to one’s DNA as a result of inflammation, stress and other such factors as time passes. Chronological age reflects how long one has been alive from the time they were born while biological age depicts how much one has aged at the cellular level.
The data analysis revealed that the subjects with multiple sclerosis were biologically older than their peers without the disease. Some samples revealed that the individuals were almost 2 years biologically older than those individuals’ chronological age.
Previously, the scientific community believed that accelerated ageing at the biological level was connected to the advancement of disability among older people living with MS. This study changes that. It suggests disability progression commences earlier than what’s suggested based on external symptoms of the disease.
The researchers hope that tracking the biological ageing of adolescents and children with MS can provide insights into the ways in which the disease progresses with the passage of time. From these findings, it is possible that biological ageing may contribute to the progression of the disease as the years go by. This could be the reason why patients transition from a stage in which the condition is stable to a phase in which it is advanced and not easy to treat.
Additional research is going to be conducted to document how biological aging impacts young patients as time goes by and how disability resulting from MS progresses. The study also suggests new treatment avenues focusing on mechanisms related to ageing can help in managing this disease.
The parallel R&D efforts being undertaken by companies like Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) to commercialize new therapeutics indicated for MS patients could also yield breakthroughs that transform the trajectory of how this disease is currently being managed.
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to Clene Inc. (NASDAQ: CLNN) are available in the company’s newsroom at https://ibn.fm/CLNN
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