BMI Affects Course of Multiple Sclerosis (IMAGE)

Advanced Science Research Center, GC/CUNY

BMI Affects Course of Multiple Sclerosis

Caption

Being overweight and obese worsens the disease course in multiple sclerosis patients. Specific fats, called ceramides (yellow), are more abundant in the blood of patients with high BMI (left image), compared to those with normal BMI (right image). Ceramides in high-BMI patients enter inside the nucleus of monocytes (purple) where they change the way the genetic information is read by the cells, making them proliferate. The increased number of monocytes can travel back to the brain and cause more damage.

Credit

Casaccia Lab

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