XXII. BIOCHEMICKÝ ZJAZD - Jesseniova lekárska fakulta

Lectures
BIOCHEMICAL MarKERS OF MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS
Jozef Michalik and Egon Kurča
Clinic of Neurology, Jessenius Faculty of Medicine and Faculty Hospital in Martin
Multiple sclerosis is an autoimmune, inflammatory, demyelinating disease of the central
nervous system. Several pathophysiological mechanisms such as alteration of the
immune system, disruption of blood-brain barrier, inflammation, oxidative stress and
excitotoxicity, demyelination, axonal, neuronal damage, gliosis, remyelination and repair,
cortical reorganisation are involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Because of the
heterogenity in clinical presentations and courses, a subtyping of patients by clinical,
neuroradiological, genetical, neuroimmunological, biochemical parameters is necessary
at present.
This paper discusses the potential applicability of some biological markers for the diagnosis,
disease activity, prediction of clinical courses and response to disease modifying therapies.
There are some immunological markers, biomarkers of neuronal and axonal damage,
biomarkers of demyelination, oxidative stress and excitotoxicity, gliosis (cytokines and
their receptors, adhesion molecules, matrix metalloproteinases, 24S-hydroxycholesterol,
antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein, axonal antigens, amyloid precursor
protein, 14-3–3 protein, MxA protein, B cell activating factor of the TNF family - BAFF).
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