About the Authors

Carlos López-Gómez

Contributed equally to this work with: Carlos López-Gómez, Almudena Pino-Ángeles, Óscar Fernández, Laura Leyva

Affiliation Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain

Almudena Pino-Ángeles

Contributed equally to this work with: Carlos López-Gómez, Almudena Pino-Ángeles, Óscar Fernández, Laura Leyva

Affiliations Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Málaga, Spain

Teresa Órpez-Zafra

Affiliations Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

María Jesús Pinto-Medel

Affiliations Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Begoña Oliver-Martos

Affiliations Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Jesús Ortega-Pinazo

Affiliation Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain

Carlos Arnáiz

Affiliation Department of Neurology. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain

Cristina Guijarro-Castro

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Hospital Universitario 12 de Octubre, Madrid, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Jezabel Varadé

Affiliations Multiple Sclerosis Unit, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, IdISSC, Madrid, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Roberto Álvarez-Lafuente

Affiliations Multiple Sclerosis Unit, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, IdISSC, Madrid, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Elena Urcelay

Affiliations Multiple Sclerosis Unit, Hospital Clínico San Carlos, IdISSC, Madrid, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Francisca Sánchez-Jiménez

Affiliations Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, University of Málaga, Málaga, Spain, Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER), Málaga, Spain

Óscar Fernández

Contributed equally to this work with: Carlos López-Gómez, Almudena Pino-Ángeles, Óscar Fernández, Laura Leyva

Affiliations Department of Neurology. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Laura Leyva

Contributed equally to this work with: Carlos López-Gómez, Almudena Pino-Ángeles, Óscar Fernández, Laura Leyva

leyvafer@gmail.com

Affiliations Research Laboratory. Clinical Neurosciences Institute, Hospital Regional Universitario Carlos Haya, Málaga, Spain, Red Española de Esclerosis Múltiple (REEM RD 07/0060), Málaga, Spain

Competing Interests

Oscar Fernández, MD, PhD has received honoraria as consultant in advisory boards, and as chairmen or lecturer in meetings, and has also participated in clinical trials and other research projects promoted by Biogen-Idec, Bayer-Schering; Merck-Serono, Teva, Novartis, Almirall and Allergan. This study was partly funded by Biogen Idec Iberia S.L. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: CLG LL. Performed the experiments: CLG APA TOZ MJPM BOM JOP. Analyzed the data: CLG APA TOZ MJPM BOM FSJ. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: CA CGC JV RAL EU OF. Wrote the paper: CLG APA OF LL.