Multiple Sclerosis researchXchange – September

Featured Preprint: T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people with multiple sclerosis differ between disease-modifying therapies

              Asia-Sophia Wolf et al, Norwegian Institute of Public Health

Summary: Lymphocyte targeting therapy for MS may diminish the effectiveness of COVID vaccines. The authors found that anti-CD20 treatments and sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor (S1PR) modulators both attenuate immune responses to COVID vaccines. Specifically, people with MS taking rituximab had a T-cell response, but no antibody response following vaccination, while those receiving fingolimod had both diminished humoral and cellular response.

Humoral immune responses remain quantitatively impaired but improve qualitatively in anti-CD20 treated patients with multiple sclerosis after three or four COVID-19 vaccinations

Summary: Although SARS-CoV-2 specific humoral immune responses remain quantitatively impaired, in those anti-CD20 treated pwMS who do develop SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, the functionality of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies, including neutralizing antibodies against Omicron, improves after three and four SARS-CoV-2 vaccinations, supporting current recommendations for one or two booster vaccination in anti-CD20 treated pwMS.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Personal Networks and Neurological Outcomes of People with Multiple Sclerosis: A Case-Control Cross-sectional and Longitudinal Analysis

Summary: A cohort of people with MS (PWMS) and matched controls over the course of the pandemic showed significant decreases in the size and activity of their social networks during the pandemic. The effect was greater for PWMS. Declines in personal networks correlated with declines in neurological functions for PwMS.

Cost-Utility and Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of disease-modifying drugs of Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: A Systematic Review

Summary: A review of the literature on cost effectiveness of treatment options for MS concludes that supportive care is the most cost-effective treatment. Among disease modifying treatments, oral medications are far more cost-effective than injected or IV drugs. Note that the interpretation of results may depend on the local health care economics.

Identification of Potential Blood-based Biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis

Summary: This study combined and analyzed data from gene expression studies and identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the blood of MS patients. 183 overexpressed DEGs were identified and protein interactions were evaluated. The results suggests genes associated with 4 clusters of proteins were over expressed involving tRNA aminoacylation, mitochondrial translational elongation, Fc receptor signal, and antigen processing and presenting.