BACKGROUND: As new biomarkers are validated and their significance in the natural history of specific diseases is established, these technologies can be rapidly transferred to clinical application. Since it has been shown that a single post-interferon-β (IFNβ) injection measurement of myxovirus-protein-A (MxA) mRNA correlates with IFNβ bioactivity in IFNβ treated patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), we had previously validated an assay for its quantification. METHODS: We introduced a real-time PCR relative quantification assay into routine clinical practice and measured MxA mRNA expression in 564 samples from 500 unselected IFNβ treated MS patients over a 4-year period. RESULTS: We confirmed that the assay is reproducible over time, and found that the percentage of patients lacking MxA mRNA induction is comparable to that described in studies performed worldwide after patient selection by pre-screening for the presence of anti-IFNβ antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: In view of its simplicity and reproducibility, this MxA assay is an alternative to anti-IFNβ antibody determinations for use in routine clinical practice.
BACKGROUND: As new biomarkers are validated and their significance in the natural history of specific diseases is established, these technologies can be rapidly transferred to clinical application. Since it has been shown that a single post-interferon-β (IFNβ) injection measurement of myxovirus-protein-A (MxA) mRNA correlates with IFNβ bioactivity in IFNβ treated patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), we had previously validated an assay for its quantification. METHODS: We introduced a real-time PCR relative quantification assay into routine clinical practice and measured MxA mRNA expression in 564 samples from 500 unselected IFNβ treated MSpatients over a 4-year period. RESULTS: We confirmed that the assay is reproducible over time, and found that the percentage of patients lacking MxA mRNA induction is comparable to that described in studies performed worldwide after patient selection by pre-screening for the presence of anti-IFNβ antibodies. CONCLUSIONS: In view of its simplicity and reproducibility, this MxA assay is an alternative to anti-IFNβ antibody determinations for use in routine clinical practice.
Authors: Antonio Bertolotto; Marco Capobianco; Maria Pia Amato; Elisabetta Capello; Ruggero Capra; Diego Centonze; Maria Di Ioia; Antonio Gallo; Luigi Grimaldi; Luisa Imberti; Alessandra Lugaresi; Chiara Mancinelli; Maria Giovanna Marrosu; Lucia Moiola; Enrico Montanari; Silvia Romano; Luigina Musu; Damiano Paolicelli; Francesco Patti; Carlo Pozzilli; Silvia Rossi; Marco Salvetti; Gioachino Tedeschi; Maria Rosaria Tola; Maria Trojano; Maria Troiano; Mauro Zaffaroni; Simona Malucchi Journal: Neurol Sci Date: 2013-12-29 Impact factor: 3.307