Identification of Potential Blood-based Biomarkers for Multiple Sclerosis

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting millions of people worldwide caused by an abnormal immune response that deteriorates the myelin sheath encapsulating neurons, drastically impairing neural communication. Currently, no tests can guarantee the diagnosis of MS until symptoms become severe. Early-stage diagnosis for MS is beneficial as it allows for an early start to treatment that slows its progression. This project aimed to analyze data from gene expression studies and identify commonly differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the blood of MS patients. 183 overexpressed DEGs were identified and a diagram depicting protein interactions was generated with STRINGDB. Cytoscape was used to analyze interactions and recognize Hub genes. Further analysis on PANTHER showed that the biological processes of “tRNA aminoacylation for protein translation” and “mitochondrial translational elongation” were enriched in the upregulated DEGs. Furthermore, processes directly connected to the immune system such as the “Fc receptor signaling pathway” and “antigen processing and presentation of peptide antigen” were overrepresented. The identified Hub genes RPS27A, NSA2, RPS15A, and POLR2C are potential biomarkers for MS and warrant further study. Overall, this study could provide greater insight into the molecular pathways of MS and evidence to support which genes are overexpressed in MS.