'No evidence of disease activity (NEDA)', judged by clinical and radiological findings, is a therapeutic goal in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). It is, however, unclear if distinct biological mechanisms contribute to the maintenance of NEDA. To clarify the immunological background of long-term disease stability defined by NEDA, circulating immune cell subsets in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) were analyzed using flow cytometry.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Although plasmapheresis is a treatment option for patients with autoimmune neurological diseases, treatment response varies greatly among patients. The main objective of this study was to find out if biological/immune traits correlate with a beneficial response.
Methods: We thoroughly analyzed immune phenotypes in paired blood samples from a cohort of 31 patients with multiple sclerosis before and after plasmapheresis, in parallel with clinical evaluation of treatment response.