Comparative analysis of clinical features and biomarkers to predict disease evolution in multiple sclerosis and other immune-mediated neurological disorders

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common disabling neurological disease in young adults. Epidemiological and magnetic resonance (MR) studies have provided important insights into the natural course of MS, but ability to predict its evolution is still limited. Body fluid biomarkers are currently considered to be potentially valuable for predicting different disease courses and monitoring therapeutic responsiveness in individual patients with immune-mediated neurological disorders (IMND), such as MS. Our research would be focused on a comparative analysis of clinical variables and MR and body fluid (cerebrospinal fluid and serum) biomarkers in patients with MS, Clinically isolated syndrome suggestive of MS, and two additional IMND, neuromyelitis optica and myasthenia gravis, in predicting disease evolution in these disorders. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) would be collected and stored according to a recently established consensus protocol for the standardization of CSF collection and biobanking, in 2009. Our findings would lead to the potential detection of factors which could predict the development, disease evolution and therapeutic responsiveness in above-mentioned neurological diseases. Standardized collection and biobanking of CSF and sera, along with high-quality clinical and paraclinical (MR) data, would enable exchange of body fluids with other research centres, and collaboration in multi-center studies.