Evaluation of serum miR-191-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-128-3p, and miR-376c-3 in multiple sclerosis patients (original) (raw)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) where inflammatory and neurodegenerative events are the key characteristics, although progressive and relapsing subtypes show some differences in underlying immunological mechanisms. 1 Inflammation and focal disruption of the blood-brain barrier (BBB) lie behind the demyelination and neuronal loss in relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), while in the progressive forms, neurodegeneration is mediated most likely without marked peripheral inflammation, and the role of CNS inflammation has been recognized also in PPMS. Disease-modifying treatments (DMT) decrease inflammation in active RRMS, 2 and this effect has now been observed in ocrelizumab-treated active RRMS and PPMS patients resulting in decrease in disability progression in both subtypes. 3,4 Blood-derived biomarkers that are able to detect disease activity in MS and segregate the disease subtypes may prove useful in personalized MS medicine, as blood collections are less invasive than collection of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Complexity in treatment decision making, due to heterogeneous pathology and clinical course of disease, creates the ultimate need for biomarkers that could enable early diagnosis and discriminate the aggressive disease course from