High-efficacy therapy reduces subcortical grey matter volume loss in Japanese patients with relapse-onset multiple sclerosis: A 2-year cohort study.

Background: Different treatment strategies can have varying effects on disability and whole brain volume in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the association between regional brain volume and treatment efficacy is currently unclear. Our objective was to determine whether whole brain volume, as well as the regional volume of cortical and subcortical grey matter, differ with the administration of high-efficacy therapy (HET) versus low-efficacy therapy (LET).
Methods: We evaluated clinical data and change in regional brain volume in 44 patients with relapse-onset MS, who underwent HET (n = 19) or LET (n = 25). Regional brain volume was determined with three-dimensional T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging using FreeSurfer. The association between volume change and treatment type was assessed via generalised linear mixed models (GLMMs).
Results: During the observation period (2.0 ± 0.16 years), the proportion of patients with a "no evidence of disease activity-3″ status was significantly greater in those who underwent HET versus LET (p = 0.012). HET was positively associated with volume changes in the cortex (β = 0.64, p = 0.0499), left (β = 0.98, p = 0.0033) and right (β = 0.77, p = 0.019) caudate and right putamen (β = 0.87, p = 0.0077), after adjusting for age, sex, and MS severity scores in the GLMMs. Further correction for multiple comparisons by false discovery rate revealed that HET was consistently associated with the volume changes of the left caudate (p = 0.049) and right putamen (p = 0.049).
Conclusion: HET can improve the mid-term prognosis of Japanese patients with relapse-onset MS by reducing disease activity and regional brain volume loss.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Hiroaki Yokote has received honoraria for lectures from Biogen, Mitsubishi-Tanabe Pharma, Alexion Pharma Godo Kaisha, Chugai Pharma, and Novartis. Yusei Miyazaki has received honoraria for lectures from Biogen, Alexion Pharma Godo Kaisha, Chugai Pharma and Novartis. Yoichiro Nishida has received honoraria for lectures from Alexion Pharma Godo Kaisha. Masaaki Niino has received speaker honoraria from Novartis Pharma, Biogen Japan, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, and Alexion Pharma Godo Kaisha. Nobuo Sanjo received honoraria for lectures from Takeda, Biogen, and Novartis. Takanori Yokota has received personal fees from Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma and Takeda, outside the submitted work; Takanori Yokota has a patent Takeda with royalties paid. The other authors declare that they have no competing interests.
(Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier B.V.)