Serum S100B not useful as PPMS biomarker

A new study published in the Journal of Negative Results in Biomedicine (JNRB) indicates that serum S100B does not correlate with disability or MRI measurements in primary progressive MS and is not apparently affected by IFN-b 1a treatment. The scientists investigating this protein had speculated that it may be involved in the pathogenesis of MS, perhaps as an autoantigen, an inflammatory cytokine, or an indicator of cell injury. They measured S100B levels in 50 people with PPMS who were participating in a trial of Avonex (this trial did not show any treatment benefits), and looked for possible correlations with progression, MRI measurements of lesion load and brain/spinal cord volume, or treatment regimen. No such correlations were found.

While the findings themselves are perhaps not all that noteworthy, what is interesting is that the authors chose to report their negative results (which in science are often not published) -- and that to do so they made use of the JNRB, a recently established open-access, peer-reviewed online journal devoted to publicizing "failed" attempts. The goal of the JNRB is to document failures so that they can be learned from, discussed, and possibly refuted, just as positive results are, which will lead to better science. Let's hope that greater ease of publishing negative or unexpected results will lead to a higher level of openness and communication of all types of findings in the field of MS and greater progress in understanding this disease.