A new image biomarker determines the progression rate of multiple sclerosis

Researchers from various European centers They have determined that tomography with Tspo radio can be used to identify patients with multiple sclerosis (EM) whose disease will progress more quickly. In the analysis of more than a hundred patients with progressive or reference-recidivating secondary EM, scientists have found a type of injury called broad perilessional margin (MPA), characterized by greater presence of CD68+ and HLA-DR+ myeloid cells, but not of microglia, which would distinguish this radiological feature from other similar ones.

Tanja Kuhlmann, Researcher at the University Hospital of Münster and director of the studyaffirms that the characterization of the MPA has been carried out on samples from autopsies of patients in which the EM had taken opposite trajectories, progressing slowly or quickly. In this cohort, the MPA exhibited a distinctive transcriptomic pattern, associated with protein recycling, the production of pro -inflammatory cytokines, the migration of myeloid cells and apoptosis, or programmed cell death, being all indicative of activation of innate immunity and the response to proteins that have lost their native configuration, says Kuhlmann.

The scientist continues indicating that, In the cohort of living patients, the presence of at least one MPA was associated with the greatest number of total injuries. Additionally, the proportion of MPAS correlated with that of active injuries, according to Tspo tomography. Kuhlmann concludes indicating that the use of this tracer can contribute decisively to the monitoring of the EM, as demonstrated in a small longitudinal study conducted by the same team, in which Natalizumab therapy reduced the number of MPAS at 12 months.