METHOD FOR PREDICTING POST-THERAPY PROGNOSIS OF RELAPSING-REMITTING MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (RRMS) PATIENT, AND METHOD FOR DETERMINING APPLICABILITY OF NOVEL THERAPY

摘要

A therapeutic effect of the administration of interferon-β (IFN-β) on a relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patient can be predicted and an RRMS case, wherein the administration can be hardly continued because of the occurrence of a serious side effect or worsening of co-occurring immunological disorder, can be predicted by measuring the amount of plasma blasts (PB) in a sample from the RRMS patient. Further, the therapeutic effect of an IL-6 inhibitor in treating RRMS can be predicted by measuring the amount of PB in a sample from an RRMS patient, which enables the provision of a therapeutic method efficacious to a patient to whom IFN-β can be hardly applied in treating RRMS.