A recent study identified a biomarker linked to the development of MS.
Could earlier diagnosis improve future treatments?
by: Trevor Gleason
Everyone I know who has multiple sclerosis (MS) can tell me the date they were diagnosed with the disease. Most have at least a vague recollection of their first symptoms. But when did their MS actually begin?
MS May Begin Before Symptoms Manifest
In a study published in September 2019 in JAMA Neurology, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston and collaborators reviewed blood serum samples from 60 members of the U.S. military who later went on to develop MS. They found increased concentrations of a biomarker called serum neurofilament light chain in those samples relative to a control group. (A biomarker is a measurable substance in the human body.)
Couple this information with previous research, published in The Lancet in April 2017, that was conducted in four Canadian provinces (British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Nova Scotia). It showed an increased use of health services in the run-up to an MS diagnosis. It seems there is a good argument to be made that we all had MS before we exhibited symptoms.
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The Prodromal Phase of MS Can Last for Years
The medical term used for this period between the beginning of the disease and full-blown clinical presentation is “prodromal.” The researchers involved in this latest study have determined that “multiple sclerosis may have a prodromal phase lasting several years, and neuroaxonal damage [damage to the axon portion of nerve cells] may occur already during this phase.”
In the case of this research, it appears that disease activity of some sort was occurring six years before onset or diagnosis with multiple sclerosis.
Early Identification of MS Could Improve Treatments
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