Heterogeneous, Longitudinally Stable Molecular Signatures in Response to Interferon-b

• Published in: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences Vol. 1182; no. 1; pp. 58 - 68
• Main Authors: Rani, MRSandhya, Xu, Yaomin, Lee, Jar-chi, Shrock, Jennifer, Josyula, Anupama, Schlaak, Joerg, Chakraborthy, Swathi, Ja, Nie, Ransohoff, Richard M, Rudick, Richard A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2009
• ISSN: 0077-8923
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2009.05068.x

Interferons (IFNs) are widely used in therapy for viral, neoplastic, and inflammatory disorders, but clinical response varies among patients. The biological basis for variable clinical response is not known. We determined the primary molecular response to IFN-beta (IFN- beta ) injections in 35 treatment-naive multiple sclerosis (MS) patients using a customized cDNA macroarray with 186 interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). Our results revealed striking interindividual heterogeneity, both in the magnitude as well as the nature of the primary molecular response to IFN- beta injections. Despite marked between-subject variability in the molecular response, responses within individual subjects were stable over a 6-month interval. Our data suggest that clinical response to IFN- beta therapy for MS differs among patients because of qualitative rather than quantitative variability in the primary molecular response to the drug.