About the Authors

Johanna Gaiottino

Affiliations Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom, Bone & Joint Research Unit, John Vane Science Centre, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Niklas Norgren

Affiliation UmanDiagnostics, Umeå, Sweden

Ruth Dobson

Affiliation Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Joanne Topping

Affiliation Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Ahuva Nissim

Affiliation Bone & Joint Research Unit, John Vane Science Centre, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Andrea Malaspina

Affiliations Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom, North-East London and Essex Regional MND Care Centre, London, United Kingdom

Jonathan P. Bestwick

Affiliation Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Andreas U. Monsch

Affiliation Memory Clinic, Department of Geriatrics, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Axel Regeniter

Affiliation Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Raija L. Lindberg

Affiliation Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Ludwig Kappos

Affiliation Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

David Leppert

Affiliation Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Axel Petzold

Affiliation UCL Institute of Neurology, Department of Neuroinflammation, London, United Kingdom

Gavin Giovannoni

Affiliation Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom

Jens Kuhle

j.kuhle@qmul.ac.uk

Affiliations Blizard Institute, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom, Bone & Joint Research Unit, John Vane Science Centre, Queen Mary University of London, London, United Kingdom, Department of Neurology, University Hospital, Basel, Basel, Switzerland

Competing Interests

J. Gaiottino reports no disclosures; N. Norgren is employed by UmanDiagnostics AB, Sweden; R. Dobson, J. Topping, A. Nissim, A. Malsapina, J.P. Bestwick, A.U. Monsch, A. Regeniter report no disclosures; R.L. Lindberg has received research support from the Swiss MS Society, Swiss National Science Foundation, European FP6 and IMI JU programs, Roche Postdoc Fellowship Program (RPF-program), unrestricted research grants from Novartis and Biogen. L. Kappos reports, the University Hospital Basel as employer of Dr. Kappos has received and dedicated to research support fees for board membership, consultancy or speaking, or grants, in the last 3 years from Actelion, Advancell, Allozyne, Bayer, Bayhill, Biogen Idec, BioMarin, CSL Behring, Eli Lilly, European Union, GeNeuro, Genmab, Gianni Rubatto Foundation, Glenmark, Merck Serono, MediciNova, Mitsubishi Pharma, Novartis, Novartis Research Foundation, Novonordisk, Peptimmune, Roche, Roche Research Foundation, Sanofi-Aventis, Santhera, Swiss MS Society, Swiss National Research Foundation, Teva, UCB, and Wyeth. D. Leppert is an employee of F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd. A. Petzold reports no disclosure. G. Giovannoni has received research grant support from Bayer–Schering Healthcare, Biogen–Idec, GW Pharma, Merck Serono, Merz, Novartis, Teva and Sanofi–Aventis. He has received personal compensation for participating on Advisory Boards in relation to clinical trial design, trial steering committees and data and safety monitoring committees from: Bayer–Schering Healthcare, Biogen–Idec, Eisai, Elan, Fiveprime, Genzyme, Genentech, GSK, Ironwood, Merck–Serono, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, Sanofi–Aventis, Synthon BV, Teva, UCB Pharma and Vertex Pharmaceuticals. J. Kuhle has received research support from the Swiss MS Society, Swiss ALS Society, Protagen AG, Roche and Novartis and served in scientific advisory boards for Genzyme/Sanofi-Aventis, Merck Serono and Novartis Pharma. His work is supported by an ECTRIMS Research Fellowship Programme and by the “Forschungsfonds” of the University of Basel, Switzerland. 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: JG NN AN AM JPB AP GG JK. Performed the experiments: JG JK. Analyzed the data: JG NN RD AN AM JPB DL AP JK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JG NN RD JT AN AM AUM AR AP GG JK. Wrote the manuscript: JG NN RD JT AN AM JPB AUM AR RLL LK DL AP GG JK.