Recent progress in omics-driven analysis of MS to unravel pathological mechanisms

Abstract

At present, the pathophysiology and specific biological markers reflecting pathology of multiple sclerosis (MS) remain undetermined. The risk of developing MS is considered to depend on genetic susceptibility and environmental factors. The interaction of environmental factors with epigenetic mechanisms could affect the transcriptional level and therefore also the translational level. In the last decade, growing amount of hypothesis-free ‘omics’ studies have shed light on the potential MS mechanisms and raised potential biomarker targets. To understand MS pathophysiology and discover a subset of biomarkers, it is becoming essential to take a step forward and integrate the findings of the different fields of ‘omics’ into a systems biology network. In this review, we will discuss the recent findings of the genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic fields for MS and aim to make a unifying model.

Keywords::

• biomarker
• genomics
• multiple sclerosis
• proteomics
• systems biology
• transcriptomics

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Key issues

• • The crosstalk between unknown environmental factors with multiple sclerosis (MS)-associated genetic susceptibility loci could initiate MS.

• • It is unlikely that a small subset of MS-associated molecules represent MS pathology and progression.

• • With current state of MS-associated genes, it is more likely that these genes will assist in classification of MS group into different genetic subgroups

• • The epigenetic miRNA regulatory functions in MS are very promising; however, different results are observed between different studies.

• • A consensus guideline regarding the pre and post-analytic challenges for the transcriptomics is necessary for replication and validation of obtained results.

• • Proteins are the functional units within the cell and recent proteomics have primarily focused on CSF.

• • Some independent replications of MS-associated proteins between the different studies are observed.

• • The nodes within a system biology approach are becoming slowly visible; however, the crosstalk between the nodes requires more functional experiments.