the hope of a new marker to facilitate diagnosis

Multiple sclerosis is a neurological disease where the immune system attacks its own central nervous system, a disease which affects more than 120,000 people in France. A study has just been published on a new marker to diagnose it and prevent disability.

Martin Ducret, doctor and journalist at Doctor’s Daily. tells us today about a neurological disease which affects more than 120,000 people in France, multiple sclerosis, and about a new biological blood marker which could help to diagnose this pathology…

franceinfo: But before telling us about this marker, what is multiple sclerosis?

Martin Ducret: It is an autoimmune neurological condition, which means that the immune system attacks its own central nervous system, such as the brain and the spinal cord, which is located in the spine. This disease manifests itself by motor skills disorders – muscular weakness for example – by sensory disorders, such as numbness, pain or tingling, but also by balance disorders or even visual disorders.

Multiple sclerosis can be a source of disability in the medium or long term. It progresses, most often, in outbreaks, with symptoms which appear then disappear totally or in part. More rarely, it evolves continuously, gradually getting worse.

The problem with this disease is that to date, there is no specific marker to diagnose it. The specialized neurologist does this, based on a range of arguments, in the face of suggestive neurological symptoms, with the help of images of the brain and spinal cord, captured by an MRI, or even thanks to a lumbar puncture, an examination which allows to collect cerebrospinal fluid by inserting a fine needle between the lumbar vertebrae.

But could a new blood biomarker help diagnose this disease?

Yes, this is the hope raised by the results of a study in the journal Nature Medicine, in which researchers identified an immunological marker which appears specific to multiple sclerosis, present in the blood in approximately 10% of the 250 patients evaluated. In addition, this marker is present several years, before the first symptoms appear.

For Dr Clarisse Carra, neurologist at the multiple sclerosis resource and skills center (CRC) at Montpellier University Hospital, “this discovery is promising even if other studies must confirm the interest of this serum marker. It would allow for an even earlier diagnosis in certain patients, and could even replace the need for a lumbar puncture.”

And the earlier the diagnosis is made, the quicker the initiation of treatment can be, thus limiting the occurrence of flare-ups and preventing disability?

Yes, according to Dr. Carra“a biomarker like this could also provide information on the prognosis of the disease, making it possible to choose the treatment most suited to the patient’s profile.”