From the Ectrims site that Mark gave:

http://www.akm.ch/ectrims2006/

Clinical aspects: diagnosis and differential diagnosis - Part II
Friday, September 29, 2006, 15:30 - 17:00
Clinical validation of MSdiag™ test for predicting multiple sclerosis activity

P. Villoslada, J. Sepulcre, B. Duque, J. Goñi, B. Fernandez, C. Lyonnais, M. Geffard (Pamplona, E; Cenon, F)

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Background: The MSdiag™ test assess a set of 34 circulating antibodies directed against fatty acids, acetylcholine-like, azelaic acid, malondialdehyde residue, NO-modified amino-acids and enterobacterial antigens by ELISA (M Geffard. J Neuroimmunol 1996). These set of antibodies have been described to be differentially expressed in different MS disease course.

Objective: To assess the association between MSdiag™ test and disease activity in a cohort of MS patients.

Methods: We study a cohort of 61 MS patients with early to medium disease duration (22 CIS, 28 RRMS, 5 SPMS, 6 PPMS), low-medium disability (EDSS: 2.0 (0 – 7.0); MSSS: 4.6; MSFC: 0.64 +1.68) and a relapse rate in the 2 previous years of 1.43. Patients were followed every 3 months for 2 years. The MSdiag test was performed every 3 months in a blind manner. A 3D MRI with gadolinium study was performed at baseline.

Results: Two patients were lost for follow-up. Relapse rate during the follow-up was 1.23, and 26 patients were relapse-free. The increase in the EDSS by the end of the study was 0.41 + 0.7 and 12 patients had confirmed progression (1 point increase in the EDSS confirmed at 6 months). Twelve CIS patients converted to RRMS and 5 RRMS patients developed SPMS.

We found moderate correlation between MSdiag™ subtest directed against enterobaterial antigens and disability (EDSS and MSFC) at the end of the study: 1) the rise of antibodies 5M, 16M, 12M, 19M and 5A was associated with disease progression; 2) we found a moderate correlation between 16M and 5M antibody titers and EDSS change (confirmed at 6 months).

The rise of antibody 16M was associated with the conversion from CIS to RRMS; and the increase of antibody 17A titers was associated with being non relapse-free by the end of the study. None of the tests correlated with the number of relapses in the follow-up, disease subtype at baseline, response to immunomodulatory therapy or gadolinium enhancing lesions.

Conclusions: The assessment of several antibodies in the MSdiag™ test might be useful to identify patients with active disease.