MRI and blood marker study reveals distinct MS types

A new open-access study in Brain, led by Queen Square Analytics in collaboration with academic and industry partners, shows that combining MRI scans with a blood marker called serum neurofilament light chain can reveal different biological patterns of multiple sclerosis (MS). This matters because MS can look very different from one person to another, and traditional labels such as relapsing or progressive MS do not always explain what is happening underneath.

The team used machine learning to analyse MRI measures alongside serum neurofilament light chain, a marker that can rise when nerve cells are injured. The model found two broad MS patterns: one where the blood marker became abnormal early alongside MRI signs of active injury, and another where brain tissue changes appeared earlier and the blood marker rose later. These patterns were tested in separate groups of people with MS, including people closer to diagnosis.

For people living with MS, the long-term goal is more personalised care: better ways to understand the likely course of disease and choose treatments that match the biology of each person. The findings suggest that using MRI and blood tests together may give a clearer picture than MRI alone, and could support future tools for predicting disease activity and treatment response. Read the paper in Brain: Combined magnetic resonance imaging and serum analysis reveals distinct multiple sclerosis types.