Abstract
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a complex disease triggered by environmental and genetic agents, and clinically characterized by bout onset (BOMS) or progressive onset (PrMS). We collected clinical and familial aggregation data in a cohort of 518 Italian PrMS patients, and compared with 400 BOMS cases. An increased prevalence of MS in first-degree relatives of Italian PrMS was found. Familial aggregation is not influenced by probands’ clinical course, and there is no disease course concordance within MS families. These data are useful in counseling MS patients affected with different clinical courses of the disease.
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Acknowledgments
The project was sponsored by the Grant Giovani Ricercatori 2007 (D.lgs 502/92) from the Italian Ministry of Health, FISM (Projects: 2008/R/15 and Progetto Speciale Immunochip), Cariplo Foundation (Grant 2010.0728), and CRT Foundation of Turin Italy.
Conflict of interest
The authors declare the following conflicts of interest: Dr. Martinelli Boneschi has received speaker honoraria and funding for travel from Sanofi-Aventis, Biogen-Dompè. He receives research support from the Grant Giovani Ricercatori 2007 (D.lgs 502/92) from the Italian Ministry of Health, Fondazione Cariplo, and Fondazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla. Prof. Comi has in the past year received honorarium for speaking and consulting activities from Bayer Schering, Serono Symposia International Foundation, Merck Serono International, Sanofi-Aventis, Biogen-Dompè, Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd., Novartis. Prof. Tedeschi in the past years received honorarium for speaking and consulting activities from Bayer Schering, Serono Symposia International Foundation, Merck Serono International, Sanofi-Aventis, Biogen-Dompè, Teva Pharmaceutical Ind. Ltd., Novartis. Dr. Martinelli received speaker honoraria or fundings for travels from Biogen-Dompè. SG, Merck Serono, Bayer Schering Pharma, Novartis and Sanofi-Aventis. Dr. Capello has received speaker honoraria from Novartis and Biogen-Dompè. P. Annovazzi has served as consultant to Biogen-Idec and Teva Pharmaceuticals and received speakers’ bureaus for Biogen-Idec and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Dr. F. Esposito received honorarium for consulting activities from Serono Symposia International Foundation. Dr. Guaschino, Dr. Liberatore report no disclosures. The other co-authors report no disclosures.
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Guaschino, C., Esposito, F., Liberatore, G. et al. Familial clustering in Italian progressive-onset and bout-onset multiple sclerosis. Neurol Sci 35, 789–791 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-014-1650-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10072-014-1650-7