RESEARCH ARTICLE Biomarkers of Inflammation and Axonal Degeneration/Damage in Patients with Newly Diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis: Contributions of the Soluble CD163 CSF/ Serum Ratio to a Biomarker Panel

Background Expression of soluble CD163 (sCD163), a macrophage/microglia biomarker, is increased in inflammatory conditions, and sCD163 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) have recent-ly been shown to be elevated in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS): the sCD163 CSF/ serum ratio was elevated in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS), primary progres-sive MS (PPMS), and clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) compared with symptomatic controls. Objective To investigate the contributions of the sCD163 CSF/serum ratio to a biomarker panel focus-ing on inflammation and axonal degeneration in newly diagnosed MS; thus optimising a di-agnostic biomarker panel for MS. Methods After a full MS diagnostic work-up, including collection of paired samples of CSF and serum, 125 patients were included in this study. Patients were divided into groups based o