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Prolactin is Not Associated with Disability and Clinical Forms in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

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Abstract

An association between prolactinemia with disability, clinical forms, and sex of patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association of prolactin with clinical forms and accumulating disability over time in patients with MS. A longitudinal study was carried out with 101 patients with relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) and 19 with progressive forms of MS (ProgMS). The disability over time, as well as prolactin and ferritin serum levels were evaluated at baseline (T0), 8-month follow-up (T8), and 16-month follow-up. The disability at T0, T8, and T16 was higher among patients with ProgMS than those with RRMS. Prolactin and ferritin levels did not differ over time between both groups. Initially, prolactin was associated with MS disability. After introducing age and sex, the effects of prolactin on disability were no longer significant. Prolactin was associated with age and sex, whereby age was positively associated with disability. In the same way, after introducing age and sex, the effects of diagnosis on prolactin levels, as well as the association between prolactin and ferritin, were no longer significant (P = 0.563 and P = 0.599, respectively). Moreover, 21.6% of the variance in the disability was predicted by age (P < 0.001), and sex (P = 0.049), while prolactin was not significant. In conclusion, the effects of prolactin on the disability and clinical forms of MS patients may be spurious results because those correlations reflect the positive associations of age with the disability and the negative association of age with prolactin.

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Funding

This study was partially supported by Novartis Biosciences S.A. for the development of the research according to the Researcher’s Initiative Study CFTY720DBR07T. The authors do not receive any reimbursement or financial benefits and declare that they have no competing interests. Novartis Biosciences S.A. played no role in the design, methods, data management or analysis or in the decision to publish. The study was also supported by grants from Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level of Education Personnel (CAPES) of Brazilian Ministry of Education; Institutional Program for Scientific Initiation Scholarship (PIBIC) of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Applied Immunology, Health Sciences Center, University of Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Wildéa Lice de Carvalho Jennings Pereira, Tamires Flauzino, Daniela Frizon Alfieri, Sayonara Rangel Oliveira, Ana Paula Kallaur, Andrea Name Colado Simão, Marcell Alysson Batisti Lozovoy & Edna Maria Vissoci Reiche

  2. Outpatient Clinic for Neurology, University Hospital, State University of Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Wildéa Lice de Carvalho Jennings Pereira & Damacio Ramón Kaimen-Maciel

  3. Department of Pathology, Clinical Analysis and Toxicology, Health Sciences Center, University of Londrina, Av. Robert Koch, 60, Londrina, Paraná, CEP 86.038-440, Brazil

    Sayonara Rangel Oliveira, Andrea Name Colado Simão, Marcell Alysson Batisti Lozovoy & Edna Maria Vissoci Reiche

  4. Clinical Neurology, Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Londrina, Londrina, Paraná, Brazil

    Damacio Ramón Kaimen-Maciel

  5. IMPACT Strategic Research Centre, School of Medicine, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia

    Michael Maes

  6. Department of Psychiatry, King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Chulalongkorn, Bangkok, Thailand

    Michael Maes

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  1. Wildéa Lice de Carvalho Jennings Pereira
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  2. Tamires Flauzino
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  10. Edna Maria Vissoci Reiche
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Correspondence to Edna Maria Vissoci Reiche.

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Ethical Approval

The protocol was approved by the Institutional Research Ethics Committees of University of Londrina, Paraná, Brazil (CAAE: 22290913.9.0000.5231) and all of the individuals invited were informed in detail about the research and gave written Informed Consent.

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de Carvalho Jennings Pereira, W.L., Flauzino, T., Alfieri, D.F. et al. Prolactin is Not Associated with Disability and Clinical Forms in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis. Neuromol Med 22, 73–80 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12017-019-08565-3

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