Serum level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis: a potential biomarker for disease activity

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Abstract
Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is secreted by immune cells in response to neuroimmune and inflammatory cascades as an act to prevent axonal and neuronal damage after various pathological insults. The serum level of BDNF is altered in a diversity of neurological diseases. The aim of this work was to investigate the serum level of BDNF in patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis and the relation between BDNF and disease activity and severity. Methods: A case–control study was conducted on 90 subjects: 60 patients with relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (30 in relapse and 30 in remission) on different lines of medical treatment and 30 healthy volunteers as a control. Clinical, functional, and radiological evaluation was done for the patients, and all the patients and controls were subjected to assessment of the serum level of BDNF by sandwich-ELISA technique. Results: The BDNF level was significantly higher in MS patients in relapse than in patients in remission (P value = 0.006). In the remission group, there was no significant linear correlation between different MS patients’ characteristics and BDNF level, while in the relapse group, a positive linear correlation was found between the number of T2 infratentorial lesions and BDNF level (r = 0.402, P = 0.028). There was no statistically significant difference between the BDNF level in patients administered different drugs for MS in both remission and relapse groups (P value > 0.05). Conclusion: BDNF was significantly higher in relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis patients in the relapse phase. Attention should be paid to the link between serum BDNF level as a neuroprotective factor and multiple sclerosis; it can be a biomarker for MS activity in the near future.

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