Study participants
This study enrolled 20 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients from the
Department of Neurology, National Cancer Center, South Korea. The
diagnosis of MS was made according to 2017 McDonald criteria [35].
Twelve age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HC) were also recruited.
No patients had co-existing central nervous system (CNS) diseases or
other autoimmune diseases. Among 20 MS patients, 10 patients were
treated with β-interferon and the rest received glatiramer acetate. None
of the patients had received high-dose steroids in the 2 months
preceding blood sampling. Demographic as well as clinical
characteristics of participants are summarized in Table 1. This study
was approved by the Institutional Review Board and written informed
consent was obtained from all participants. Statement on informed
consent from the legally authorized representatives were also obtained
as patients with RRMS are involve in this study. All the methods were
performed according to the guidelines and regulations of Declaration of
Helsinki.