Researchers have discovered a group of blood proteins that are altered in people who go on to develop multiple sclerosis (MS)—in some cases more than a decade before diagnosis. The findings offer hope that a simple blood test could one day identify people at high risk of MS in time to act before damage occurs.
The best cure for neurological diseases like MS is prevention. If MS is caught early, the worst of its debilitating effects can often be prevented. Unfortunately, in many cases, diagnosis comes only after the disease is well underway and the window for early intervention has passed.
In a new study published in the Annals of Neurology, researchers at The Neuro of McGill University screened over 2,500 blood proteins using a statistical technique known as Mendelian Randomization. They team found that 39 proteins were linked to MS risk, most of them in the signaling pathways immune cells use to communicate.
To know whether these proteins could serve as an early warning, they turned to the UK Biobank, a comprehensive biomedical dataset that collected blood samples from half a million UK volunteers between 2006-2010 and has tracked their health since. Among them, 124 went on to develop MS, allowing the researchers to look back at samples taken on average six years before diagnosis, and in some cases more than a decade earlier.
In those samples, the McGill team found that 8 proteins were already altered in people who would later be diagnosed with MS. One of the proteins—DKKL1—was linked to both a lower risk of developing MS and a milder course of disease in those who did, making it a candidate marker for both risk and prognosis.
The team now plans to validate the findings in larger cohorts and to test whether these markers, combined with other tools, can be developed into screening tests.
Data from McGill University