Apr 22, 2009
New study finds group of proteins linked to pediatric MS
A group of 12 proteins associated with pediatric MS have been discovered for the first time by a team of neurology and pathology researchers at Stony Brook University Medical Center. This could help develop tests to diagnose or predict the course of the disease in kids.
Diagnosing MS in children and adolescents is difficult, and standard MS diagnostic tests such as cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) analysis and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are often unreliable.
The Stony Brook team measured multiple proteins at once (a method known as proteomics) in the blood of children with MS. They compared plasma samples from nine children with MS and plasma from nine healthy children. The researchers found differences in the amounts of multiple proteins in the blood of children with MS compared to those without disease. They found 12 proteins that differed in expression in the MS group. Some of the proteins had not been previously associated with disease.
Dr. Lauren Krupp, head of the study and director of the National Pediatric MS Center at SBUMC, said these proteins could give clues to the onset and development of this disease.
A larger number of subjects are needed to further validate these findings.