Lymphocyte subsets as biomarkers of therapeutic response in Fingolimod treated Relapsing Multiple Sclerosis patients

•Fingolimod (FTY) induces a re-modulation of the immune system.•Lymphocytes subsets may predict Multiple Sclerosis disease activity in FTY patients.•Immune system re-modulation can be a biomarker of FTY therapeutic response.•ROC curves stratified patients for the risk of relapse at T6 and Gd + lesions at T12.

We investigated, lymphocyte count (LC) and lymphocyte subpopulations (LS) in a real life setting of Fingolimod (FTY) treated Relapsing MS (RMS) patients.Peripheral blood counts with LS, relapses and MRI scans were recorded in a cohort of 119 FTY patients, during one year of treatment. Simple and multivariate logistic regression models, were performed. ROC analysis identified cut-off values of LS predicting a higher risk of relapses and of Gd + lesions.We demonstrated a FTY-induced re-modulation of the immune system, suggesting that LS in RMS FTY treated patients can predict the clinical response to the drug.

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