Blood samples withdrawn from patients diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis (RRMS) about to be started on interferon-β treatment and age and gender-matched healthy controls will be extracted and cultured. Exosomes will be isolated from the culture supernatants, phenotyped and added to dendritic cell (DC) cultures. The cytokine expression profile of DCs will be recorded and compared between MS patients and controls. Patients will also be clinically assessed using the Expanded Disability Scale Scores (EDSS).
Multiple sclerosis patients visiting the AUBMC MS Center
Healthy adult volunteers
Non-probability sampling
RRMS patients about to be started on interferon-B treatment or currently taking Tysabri, off treatment (steroids) for the past 3-4 weeks, and not taking Gilenya
Healthy adults who have not been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease or any other autoimmune disease, are not taking anti-inflammatory medication, and do not have signs of active infection.