Biomarkers Identify Need for Highly Individualized MS Treatment Plans

According to researchers at Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF), Oklahoma City, OK, blood biomarkers in individual multiple sclerosis (MS) patients may help clinicians determine which treatments would be of most benefit to that person. The findings will be in print in the April issue of Neurology, Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation (2016;3(2):e202).  

One of the biggest obstacles in treating MS, said lead investigator Robert Axtell, PhD, OMFR, is the wide range of patient responses to available therapies. Thus, he and his international team of researchers set out to identify patient responses to different MS drugs, including the well-established interferon-beta, a cytokine in the interferon family. 

For this prospective, observational study, Dr Axtell and colleagues studied 157 patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) or clinically isolated syndrome receiving de novo IFN-β treatment. The number of relapses and changes in disability were assessed 2 years prior to and 2 years after initiation of treatment. Sera were collected at baseline and after 3 months on therapy. The patients were then clustered into 6 distinct subsets by baseline cytokine profiles for analysis. The research team measured 50 specific immune molecules in the blood of MS patients and discovered that particular subgroups of patients responded well to standard treatments while others did not. 

“We looked for biomarkers that indicated the presence of disease, because they can help us identify which patients respond to specific therapies,” said Dr Axtell. “We collaborated with a lot of folks and received blood samples and clinical data from a sizable MS patient population. It took a lot of effort from many clinical and basic scientists to complete this study.”

According to Dr Axtell, knowledge of which biomarkers relate with certain responses to specific drugs will give scientists a better notion of how individual patients will respond to given treatments. “Our study definitely showed us that MS is not biologically the same in every patient, and that lets us know that a personalized approach is needed when it comes to treatment,” he said.

The findings, Dr Axtell said, may also help researchers use these immune molecules as a predictive MS assessment. “We need to do many other studies to verify the molecules and refine the testing before this can be taken forward commercially,” he said.—Amanda Del Signore