Biological aging in multiple sclerosis
Yinan Zhang, Jeffrey Atkinson, Christin E. Burd, Jennifer Graves, Benjamin M. Segal
Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is most likely to adopt a progressive clinical course during middle age or beyond, and the number of older adults with MS is steadily increasing. Developing new strategies to manage progressive forms of MS, which do not respond to currently available disease-modifying therapies (DMTs), will require a deeper understanding of the mechanisms by which biological aging interacts with pathogenic pathways to propel disability accumulation. In experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a widely used preclinical mouse model of MS, middle-aged animals experience a more severe and protracted clinical course than their younger counterparts. This exacerbated disease course is accompanied by persistent neuroinflammation. Clinical studies of age-related biomarkers, such as telomere length, senescence markers, and DNA methylation, suggest that biological aging is accelerated in people with MS compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Furthermore, distinguishing biological age from chronological may afford more precision in determining aging effects in MS. Here we review the current literature on aging biology and its impact on MS pathogenesis. Future research on this topic may lead to the development of novel biomarkers and senotherapy agents that slow neurological decline in people with progressive MS by targeting relevant aging-related pathways.