Mitochondria are organs that act as spark plugs within cells. Nuclear DNA damage is a major cause of cancer, neurodegeneration, mitochondrial dysfunction, and many age-related diseases. The levels of nuclear DNA damage were also elevated in the veterans with GWI, but did not reach "statistical significance," the researchers say. This approach is simpler to execute and does not require analysis through a biopsy of a piece of tissue, such as skeletal muscle, he says.Īlthough Falvo and his team were interested mainly in mtDNA, they also looked at nuclear DNA, which is vital, too, to overall mitochondrial health. "We interpret these findings as evidence that mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in the pathobiology of GWI."įalvo explains that the researchers used a new technique developed in the lab of his team's collaborator that allowed them to evaluate the quality of the mitochondrial DNA directly from total DNA without having to isolate the mitochondria. "Greater mtDNA damage is consistent with mitochondrial dysfunction, which may contribute to symptoms of GWI, as well as persistence of this illness over time," the researchers write. In the study, the mtDNA damage was 20 percent greater in the veteran group, compared with a control group that included three veterans without GWI and four non-veterans. He notes that everyone experiences some level of mtDNA damage, perhaps due to aging and environmental exposures, such as air pollution. Mike Falvo, a health sciences specialist at the Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System. Lesion frequency gives a direct measure of DNA damage, while the increased number of mtDNA copies reflects a response to the damage.īoth lesion frequency and the number of mtDNA copies vary in response to environmental toxins and together provide a reading of overall mitochondrial health, according to lead researcher Dr. In blood tests, researchers observed more lesions and more mitochondrial DNA-that is, extra copies of genes-in veterans with Gulf War illness, relative to controls without the illness, suggesting excess DNA damage. The findings appeared in the journal PLOS One in September 2017.Ī study that focused on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) included 21 veterans with Gulf War illness (GWI) and seven controls.
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