{
  "abstract": "Background Increased chronological age correlates with reduced relapse rates and increased disability in multiple sclerosis (MS). Biological age may better capture ageing’s impact on MS and might accelerate due to MS itself. Establishing accelerated biological ageing in adults is complicated by normal ageing and comorbidities. Telomere length, a well-recognised biological ageing marker, is shortened in adults with MS and associated with disability. Demonstrating accelerated biological ageing in paediatric-onset MS (POMS) would strengthen the hypothesis that MS drives premature biological ageing. This study aimed to determine if telomere length differs in POMS compared to age-similar healthy controls.Methods We performed a cross-sectional case-control study of whole blood samples and clinical data from The US Network of Pediatric MS Centers. Real-time quantitative PCR measured telomere length, expressed as a telomere to somatic DNA ratio (T/S ratio). T/S ratio was compared between cases and age-similar healthy controls using multivariate regression analysis adjusting for chronological age, sex, race, ethnicity, tobacco exposure, socioeconomic status and body mass index.Results We analysed 300 POMS cases and 200 controls. The unadjusted mean T/S ratios were 1.66 (SD 0.32) for cases and 1.71 (SD 0.29) for controls (mean difference –0.05, 95% CI –0.10 to 0.01, p=0.08). After adjusting for key covariables with face validity, POMS participants had a mean 0.086 shorter T/S ratio than controls (95% CI 0.015 to 0.157, p=0.018).Conclusions POMS participants demonstrated shorter telomeres than age-similar controls in a multivariable model adjusting for sociodemographic variables, suggesting that MS may contribute to accelerated biological ageing.",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Kayla Jacques"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pediatrics, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jonathan Race"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Christopher Goyne"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA",
        "Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Ashley Fair"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pediatrics, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Allison Schuette"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer H Yang"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Stacy Caillier"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Gregory Scott Aaen"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurology, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Aaron Abrams"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurology, Childrens Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Leslie Benson"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pediatrics, The University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"
      ],
      "name": "T Charles Casper"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Tanuja Chitnis"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Childrens Hospital Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Mark P Gorman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Tim Lotze"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Pediatric MS Center, NYU Langone Health, New York, New York, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Lauren Krupp"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurology, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Soe Mar"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jayne Ness"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Mary Rensel"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Neurology, Mayo Clinic Rochester, Rochester, Minnesota, USA",
        "Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Moses Rodriguez"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of Utah Health, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA"
      ],
      "name": "John Rose"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurology, University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Teri Schreiner"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jan-Mendelt Tillema"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Amy Waldman"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Nursing, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Yolanda Wheeler"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jorge Oksenberg"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jue Lin"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Emmanuelle Waubant"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Department of Neurosciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA"
      ],
      "name": "Jennifer S Graves"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Telomere length as a marker of biological age in paediatric multiple sclerosis",
  "uid": "97c20a7a-7ebf-5b8d-bdd0-e2a08c6ed8b4"
}