Biomarkers in Multiple Sclerosis: An Up-to-Date Overview

Abstract

During the last decades, the effort of establishing satisfactory biomarkers for multiple sclerosis has been proven to be very difficult, due to the clinical and pathophysiological complexities of the disease. Recent knowledge acquired in the domains of genomics-immunogenetics and neuroimmunology, as well as the evolution in neuroimaging, has provided a whole new list of biomarkers. This variety, though, leads inevitably to confusion in the effort of decision making concerning strategic and individualized therapeutics. In this paper, our primary goal is to provide the reader with a list of the most important characteristics that a biomarker must possess in order to be considered as reliable. Additionally, up-to-date biomarkers are further divided into three subgroups, genetic-immunogenetic, laboratorial, and imaging. The most important representatives of each category are presented in the text and for the first time in a summarizing workable table, in a critical way, estimating their diagnostic potential and their efficacy to correlate with phenotypical expression, neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, disability, and therapeutical response. Special attention is given to the “gold standards” of each category, like HLA-DRB1* polymorphisms, oligoclonal bands, vitamin D, and conventional and nonconventional imaging techniques. Moreover, not adequately established but quite promising, recently characterized biomarkers, like TOB-1 polymorphisms, are further discussed.