Kids with MS show signs of accelerated ageing

New research suggests that children diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) may show signs of biological aging at an earlier stage than their peers. The study found that young people with MS exhibited higher levels of certain biomarkers associated with aging, compared to healthy children of the same age.

The researchers focused on a molecule called p16^INK4a (or p16), which plays a key role in regulating cell aging. Elevated levels of this molecule are known to indicate cellular senescence, a state in which cells stop dividing and begin to deteriorate. In this study, children with MS had significantly higher p16 levels in their immune cells than those without the condition, suggesting that their immune systems were undergoing aging-related changes more rapidly.

This finding is particularly striking because the participants with MS were still in childhood or adolescence, a time when p16 levels are typically very low. The study team emphasized that these elevated levels were similar to those seen in much older adults, indicating a possible link between MS and accelerated immune system aging from a very early stage.

While the researchers did not find a direct correlation between higher p16 levels and greater disability or longer disease duration in the young participants, they believe the results point to a broader phenomenon of premature immune aging, known as immunosenescence, in people with MS. This could help explain why MS tends to be associated with immune system dysfunction and why early intervention might be important.

The study included blood samples from 94 children with MS and 62 healthy controls, all between the ages of 3 and 22. The researchers say the next step is to determine whether these changes are reversible or preventable with treatment and whether they also appear in adults newly diagnosed with MS.