About the Authors
- Lisa G. M. van Baarsen
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Contributed equally to this work with: Lisa G. M. van Baarsen, Saskia Vosslamber
Affiliations Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Pathology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Saskia Vosslamber
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Contributed equally to this work with: Lisa G. M. van Baarsen, Saskia Vosslamber
Affiliations Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Pathology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Marianne Tijssen
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Affiliation Department of Pathology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Josefien M. C. Baggen
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Affiliation Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Laura F. van der Voort
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Affiliation Department of Neurology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Joep Killestein
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Affiliation Department of Neurology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Tineke C. T. M. van der Pouw Kraan
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Affiliation Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Chris H. Polman
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Affiliation Department of Neurology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Cornelis L. Verweij
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* E-mail: c.verweij@vumc.nl
Affiliations Department of Molecular Cell Biology and Immunology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Department of Pathology, VU Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Competing Interests
Prof. Polman reports having received the following: consulting fees from Biogen Idec, Schering AG, Teva, Serono, Novartis, GlaxoSmithKline, UCB, Astra Zeneca, Roche and Antisense Therapeutics, lecture fees from Biogen Idec, Schering AG, Novartis and Teva, and grant support from Biogen Idec, Schering AG , GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis, Serono and Teva. Joep Killestein and Laura F. van der Voort worked with companies that market drugs for MS (Schering, Biogen Idec, Serono, Teva) and with some companies that have development programmes for future drugs in MS. Both authors are partially funded by NABINMS, a specific targeted research project on neutralising antibodies to interferon beta in MS, established by the European Commission under its 6th Framework Programme. The VU University Medical Center has filed a provisional patent application entitled “Means and methods for classifying samples of multiple sclerosis patients.” that is based on the present work. LB, CP and CV are listed as co-inventors on that provisional patent application.
Author Contributions
Conceived and designed the experiments: CV LGMv CP SV. Performed the experiments: LGMv SV MT JB. Analyzed the data: LGMv SV. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: LGMv SV. Wrote the paper: CV LGMv SV. Other: Critically revised the manuscript: CP Tv JK LFv JB MT. Supervised the statistical analysis and interpretation of the data: Tv. Collected patient samples: JK LFv JB LGMv. Characterized all patients clinically: JK LFv. Processed samples for the culture experiments: LGMv. Initiated and supervised the study: CV. Contributed to the writing of the paper: CV. Supervised and coordinated this study: CV.