Table 1.
Demographic, clinical, and magnetization transfer ratio characteristics of the multiple sclerosis patients and the healthy controls.
| HCs (n=41) | MS (n=101) | p-value | BH-adjusted p-value |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Female, n (%) | 29 (70.7%) | 75 (74.3%) | 0.679 | 0.679 | |
| Age, mean (SD) | 45.4 (12.6) | 46.9 (10.3) | 0.469 | 0.681 | |
| Disease duration, mean (SD) | - | 13.3 (10.9) | - | - | |
| RRMS/SPMS | - | 69/32 | - | - | |
| EDSS, median (IQR) | - | 2.5 (1.5–5.0) | - | - | |
| History of infectious mononucleosis, n (%) | 7 (17.1%) | 34 (33.7%) | 0.067 | 0.126 | |
| Anti-EBNA-1 titer, median (IQR) | 27.8 (8.9–48.7) | 107.9 (47.1–245.9) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
| Disease-modifying treatment | |||||
| Interferon-β | - | 37 (36.6) | - | - | |
| Glatiramer acetate | - | 25 (24.8) | - | - | |
| Natalizumab | - | 20 (19.8) | - | - | |
| Off-label medications | - | 4 (3.9) | - | - | |
| No DMT use | - | 15 (14.9) | - | - | |
| MTR outcomes measures | |||||
| T2 lesion MTR | 45.0 (43.0–47.0) | 41.0 (36.0–44.0) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
| T1 lesion MTR | - | 35.0 (32.3–38.0) | - | - | |
| NABT MTR | 42.0 (42.0–45.0) | 40.0 (37.0–42.0) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
| NAWM MTR | 46.0 (45.0–49.0) | 44.0 (39.0–45.0) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
| NAGM MTR | 39.0 (38.0–42.0) | 37.0 (34.5–38.0) | <0.001 | <0.001 | |
HC – healthy controls, MS – multiple sclerosis, BH – Benjamini-Hochberg, RRMS – relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis, SPMS – secondary-progressive multiple sclerosis, EDSS – Extended Disability Status Scale, EBV – Epstein-Barr virus, EBNA-1 – Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen-1, MTR – magnetization transfer ratio, , NABT – normal appearing brain tissue, NAWM – normal appearing white matter, NAGM – normal appearing gray matter.
The MTR and EBV response measures are shown as median (IQR). χ2, Student’s t-test, and Mann Whitney U-test were used accordingly. Benjamini-Hochberg-adjusted p values < 0.05 were considered significant.
Off-label medications include mycophenolic acid (2), intravenous immunoglobulins (1) and naltrexone (1). The patient treated with intravenous immunoglobulins (IVIG) received the IVIG infusions after a relapse which occurred 10 months before study entry.
MTR value comparison utilizing only 3T-scanned MS patients and 3T HCs yielded similar statistical differences (T2 p=0.005, NAWM p=0.001, NAGM p<0.001, and NABT p<0.001).