Meningeal inflammation, including the presence of semi-organized tertiary lymphoid tissue, has been associated with cortical pathology at autopsy in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). Accessible and robust biochemical markers of cortical inflammation for use in SPMS clinical trials are needed. Increased levels of chemokines in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) can report on inflammato...

We examined the expression of IL-33 as an indicator of an innate immune response in relapsing remitting MS (RRMS) and controls. Based on our previous studies we proposed a link between the expression of IL-33 and IL-33 regulated genes to histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity and in particular HDAC3, an enzyme that plays a role in the epigenetic regulation of a number of genes including those whic...

BACKGROUND Biochemical changes associated with multiple sclerosis (MS), and its various clinical forms have not been characterized well. Therefore, we investigated the biochemistry of MS in relation to its natural history using targeted lipidomics platforms. METHODS Cross-sectional serum samples from 24 secondary progressive (SPMS), 100 relapsing remitting (RRMS), 19 primary progressive MS (P...

NK/T-cell ratios predict disease activity in relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). We investigated 50 RRMS patients whether interleukin-2 receptor alpha-chain (IL-2R?) expression and shedding associates with balance, as suggested by daclizumab-trials RRMS. A subsample (N = 31) was genotyped for IL2RA-associated MS risk SNPs. CD56bright NK-cell/IL-17A+CD4+ T-cell correlated negatively p...

BACKGROUND Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease, in which the insulating covers of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord are demyelinated. This study was conducted to compare the efficacy of alemtuzumab and natalizumab in the treatment of different stages of MS patients. METHODS A total of 585 patients diagnosed with MS and hospitalized were included and analyzed after which th...

Properties of random regression models using linear splines (RRMS) were evaluated with respect to scale of parameters, numerical properties, changes in variances and strategies to select the number and positions of knots. Parameters in RRMS are similar to those in multiple trait models with traits corresponding to points at knots. RRMS have good numerical properties because of generally superio...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease that affects the body's central nervous system. Around 90% of MS sufferers are diagnosed with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). We used ELISA to measure IgG, IgA, and IgM antibodies against linear epitopes of human and plant aquaporins (AQP4) as well as neural antigens in RRMS patients and controls to determine whether patients suffering from RRMS h...

BACKGROUND Interferon (IFN) beta-1a is an approved treatment for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and has been examined for use in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS). However, no information regarding blood transcriptional changes induced by IFN treatment in SPMS patients is available. Our aim was to identify a subgroup of SPMS patients presenting a gene expression sig...

Surface roughness, often captured through root-mean-square roughness (Rrms), has been shown to impact the quality of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) formed on coinage metals. Understanding the effect of roughness on hydrophobicity of SAMs, however, is complicated by the odd-even effect-a zigzag oscillation in contact angles with changes in molecular length. We recently showed that for surfaces...