The new Global Multiple Sclerosis Severity Score (MSSS) correlates with axonal but not glial biomarkers

This study investigated whether the new Global Multiple Sclerosis Severity Scale (MSSS) correlated with cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers for axonal and glial pathology. The MSSS correlated with the phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (NfH-SMI35, R=0.44, P=0.016). The degree of neurofilament phosphorylation (ratio NfH-SMI34 to NfH-SMI35) was 8-fold higher in severely (median MSSS 6.5) versus mildly (MSSS 3.2) disabled patients (7.3 versus 0.9, P=0.03). The MSSS may provide a statistically powerful tool for comparing overall disease severity and be useful for validating the biomarker concept in MS.