METHODS AND COMPOSITIONS FOR DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT OF AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE SECONDARY TO MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS

摘要

The invention provides methods of diagnosing and treating multiple sclerosis (MS) patients, including methods of identifying and treating multiple sclerosis patients who are at increased risk of developing a secondary autoimmune disease following lymphocyte depletion, caused, e.g., by treatment with an anti-CD52 antibody. Also embraced are methods of selecting treatment regimens for MS patients, and reagents useful in the above methods.

主权项

1. A method for detecting elevated IL-21 level in a multiple sclerosis (MS) patient, comprising the steps of:
obtaining a blood sample from an MS patient, measuring the IL-21 level in the blood sample, and comparing the IL-21 level to the IL-21 level in a control blood sample from a subject without an autoimmune disease.