A Blood Test Can Predict the Worsening of Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a degenerative autoimmune disease that causes damage to the protective insulation that surrounds nerves, called the myelin sheath. The symptoms and severity of the disease can vary widely between patients depending upon which nerves are affected. New research has shown that a biomarker can predict which MS patients are more likely to experience more severe symptoms that can lead to impairments, about one to two years in advance. The biomarker is a molecule called neurofilament light chain (NfL), which has been proposed to be…