Long-Term Stability of Neuroaxonal Structure in Alemtuzumab-Treated Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients

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Title Long-Term Stability of Neuroaxonal Structure in Alemtuzumab-Treated Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients
Creator Jillian K. Chan, Elena Hernandez Martínez de Lapiscina, Carolyn Taylor, Ai-Lan Nguyen, Salut Alba-Arbalat, Virginia Devonshire, Ana-Luiza Sayao, Robert Carruthers, Fiona Costello, Anthony Traboulsee
Affiliation Department of Medicine (Neurology) (JKC, VD, A-LS, RC, AT), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Neurology (EHMdL, SA-A), Center of Neuroimmunology, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Institut d'Investigacions Biomèdiques August Pi Sunyer (IDIBAPS), University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; Department of Statistics (CT), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada; Department of Neruology (A-LN), University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia; Royal Melbourne Hospital (A-LN), Melbourne, Australia; and Departments of Clinical Neurosciences and Surgery (Ophthalmology) (FC), University of Calgary, Clinician Scientist with the Hotchkiss Brain Institute (HBI), Calgary, Canada. Department of Neurology and Neurotherapeutics (SCB), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas
Abstract Background: Patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience progressive thinning in optical coherence tomography (OCT) measures of neuroaxonal structure regardless of optic neuritis history. Few prospective studies have investigated the effects of disease-modifying therapies on neuroaxonal degeneration in the retina. Alemtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody shown to be superior to interferon β-1a in treating relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of alemtuzumab and first-line injectable treatments on OCT measures of neuroaxonal structure including peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness and combined ganglion cell-inner plexiform (GCIP) layer volume in RRMS patients followed up over 5 years. Methods: In this retrospective pilot study with prospectively collected double cohort data, spectral domain OCT measures of RNFL thickness and GCIP volume were compared between alemtuzumab-treated RRMS patients (N = 24) and RRMS patients treated with either interferon-β or glatiramer acetate (N = 21). Results: Over a median of 60 months (range 42-60 months), the alemtuzumab cohort demonstrated a change in the mean RNFL thickness (thinning from baseline) of -0.88 μm (95% confidence interval [CI] -2.63 to 0.86; P = 0.32) and mean GCIP volume of +0.013 mm (95% CI -0.006 to 0.032; P = 0.18). Over the same time period, the first-line therapy-treated cohort demonstrated greater degrees of RNFL thinning (mean change in RNFL thickness was -3.65 μm [95% CI -5.40 to -1.89; P = 0.0001]). There was also more prominent GCIP volume loss relative to baseline in the first-line therapy group (-0.052 mm [95% CI -0.070 to -0.034; P < 0.0001]). Conclusions: Alemtuzumab-treated patients with RRMS demonstrated relative stability of OCT-measured neuroaxonal structure compared with RRMS patients treated with either interferon-β or glatiramer acetate over a 5-year period. These findings, along with previous demonstration of improved brain atrophy rates, suggest that alemtuzumab may offer long-term preservation of neuroaxonal structure in patients with RRMS.
OCR Text Show
Date 2020-03
Language eng
Format application/pdf
Type Text
Publication Type Journal Article
Source Journal of Neuro-Ophthalmology, March 2020, Volume 40, Issue 1
Publisher Lippincott, Williams & Wilkins
Holding Institution Spencer S. Eccles Health Sciences Library, University of Utah, 10 N 1900 E SLC, UT 84112-5890
Rights Management © North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society
ARK ark:/87278/s6hn11st
Setname ehsl_novel_jno
ID 1653468
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6hn11st
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