Biomarkers: Status at the end of 2019

[frodo]

A review about the status of several MS biomarkers at the end of 2019

https://link.springer.com/article/10.11 ... 019-1674-2

Conclusions

Molecular biomarkers enable individual decisions and are an important step on the way to a personalized therapy.

An ideal biomarker is characterized by high sensitivity and specificity as well as a simple, cost-effective, reproducible, and non-invasive detection method. At present, the diagnosis and prognosis of MS as well as the monitoring of treatment response and the assessment of the risk of side effects can be facilitated with the help of some established biomarkers. These include oligoclonal bands and the IgG index, anti-AQP-4 antibodies, neutralizing antibodies against IFN-β and natalizumab, as well as anti-JCV and anti-VZV antibodies.

In addition, there are promising biomarker candidates such as NFL and CHI3L that need to be validated in further studies. However, long-term studies in large cohorts are necessary to promote the application of biomarker candidates in clinical practice.

Despite these initial successes, biomarkers that enable a reliable prediction of the therapy response even before the start of treatment and thus individualized therapy are still lacking. There is therefore still a need to develop and validate new biomarkers in the field of MS.