About the Authors

Trygve Holmøy

trygve.holmoy@medisin.uio.no

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Kristin Ingeleiv Løken-Amsrud

Affiliations Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Department of Neurology, Innlandet Hospital Trust, Lillehammer, Norway

Søren Jacob Bakke

Affiliation Department of Neuroradiology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway

Antonie G. Beiske

Affiliation Multiple Sclerosis Centre Hakadal, Hakadal, Norway

Kristian S. Bjerve

Affiliation Department of Medical Biochemistry, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

Harald Hovdal

Affiliation Department of Neurology, St. Olavs Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway

Finn Lilleås

Affiliation Curato Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Rune Midgard

Affiliations Department of Neurology, Molde Hospital, Molde, Norway, Unit for Applied Clinical Research, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

Tom Pedersen

Affiliation Unilabs Drammen, Drammen, Norway

Jutrate Šaltytė Benth

Affiliations Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, Helse Sør-Øst Health Services Research Centre, Akershus University Hospital, Lørenskog, Norway

Øivind Torkildsen

Affiliations Norwegian Multiple Sclerosis Competence Centre, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, KG Jebsen MS Research Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Stig Wergeland

Affiliations Norwegian Multiple Sclerosis Competence Centre, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, KG Jebsen MS Research Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Kjell-Morten Myhr

Affiliations Norwegian Multiple Sclerosis Competence Centre, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway, KG Jebsen MS Research Centre, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

Annika E. Michelsen

Affiliation Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway

Pål Aukrust

Affiliations Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Thor Ueland

Affiliations Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet, Oslo, Norway, Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

Competing Interests

FL is employed by Curato Oslo and Tom Pedersen by Unilabs. The study was partly supported by Merck-Serono, Pronova Biocare and Bayer Schering. KILA has received travel support and an unrestricted research grant from Biogen Idec and travel support from Merck Serono. KMM has received honoraria for lecturing, participation in pharmaceutical company sponsored clinical trials, and travel support from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Novartis, Merck-Serono and Sanofi Aventis. HH has participated in pharmaceutical company sponsored clinical trials and received travel support from Merck Serono, Biogen Idec and Bayer Schering. RM has received honoraria for lecturing, participation in pharmaceutical company sponsored clinical trials, and travel support from Bayer Schering, Biogen Idec, Novartis, Merck-Serono and Sanofi Aventis. SW has received speaker honoraria and travel support from Sanofi Aventis, Biogen Idec, Bayer Schering and Novartis. TH has received speaker honoraria and travel support from Sanofi Aventis, Biogen Idec, Bayer Schering, Novartis and Merck Serono. 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: TH KILA SJB AGB KSB HH FL RM TP KMM PA TU. Performed the experiments: FL TP PA TU AEM. Analyzed the data: TH JSB PA TU. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: FL TP ØT SW PA TU AEM. Wrote the manuscript: TH PA TU. Review of the manuscript for intellectual content: KILA ØT KMM SJB AGB KSB HH FL RM TP AEM KMM PA TU.