A new study has revealed a group of blood proteins, that are altered in people who go on to develop multiple sclerosis (MS), in some cases more than a decade before diagnosis. The findings offer hope that a simple blood test could one day identify people at high risk of MS in time to act before damage occurs.
The best cure for neurological diseases like MS is prevention. Brain damage already done is difficult or impossible to repair, but if MS is caught early, the worst of its debilitating effects can often be prevented. Unfortunately, in many cases, diagnosis comes only after the disease is well underway and the window for early intervention has passed.
A team of scientists led by Dr. Adil Harroud, a neurologist and researcher at The Neuro (Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital) of McGill University, sought ways to detect signs of future MS in patients’ blood years before they were diagnosed. They focused on proteins, the molecules that carry out most of the body’s functions.
Out of more than 2,500 blood proteins screened using a statistical technique known as Mendelian Randomization, the team found that 39 were linked to MS risk, most of them in the signalling pathways immune cells use to communicate. To know whether these proteins could serve as an early warning, they turned to UK Biobank, a comprehensive biomedical dataset which collected blood samples from half a million UK volunteers between 2006-2010 and has tracked their health since. Among them, 124 went on to develop MS, allowing the researchers to look back at samples taken on average six years before diagnosis, and in some cases more than a decade earlier.
In those samples, the scientists found that eight proteins were already altered in people who would later be diagnosed with MS. One of them, DKKL1, was linked to both a lower risk of developing MS and a milder course of disease in those who did, making it a candidate marker for both risk and prognosis. The logic resembles cholesterol screening for heart disease, where blood levels can flag risk years before a heart attack and give doctors time to intervene.
"In MS, we now know that intervening early can delay or even prevent symptoms altogether," says Dr. Harroud. "What we lack is a way to identify the right people in time. These blood markers point toward a way to do that, and to act before damage is done."
The team plans to validate the findings in larger cohorts and to test whether these markers, combined with other tools, can be developed into screening tests.
The study was published in the journal Annals of Neurology on May 22, 2026 . It was supported with funds from Fonds de Recherche du Québec Santé, the Bougie Family Young Investigator
Award, the Brain Canada Foundation, and the Canada Brain Research Fund. The UK Biobank application number for this project is 45551.
About The Neuro
The Neuro – The Montreal Neurological Institute-Hospital – is a bilingual, world-leading destination for brain research and advanced patient care. Since its founding in 1934 by renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Wilder Penfield, it has grown to be the largest specialized neuroscience research and clinical center in Canada, and one of the largest in the world. The seamless integration of research, patient care, and training of the world’s top minds make The Neuro uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on the understanding and treatment of nervous system disorders. It was the first academic institute in the world to fully adopt Open Science, to help accelerate the generation of knowledge and discovery of novel effective treatments for brain disorders. The Neuro is a McGill University research and teaching institute and part of the Neuroscience Mission of the McGill University Health Centre. For more information, please visit www.theneuro.ca
About UK Biobank
UK Biobank is the world’s most comprehensive source of biomedical data available for health research in the public interest. Over the past 15 years we have collected biological, health and lifestyle information from 500,000 UK volunteers. The dataset is continuously growing, with additions including the world’s largest set of whole genome sequencing data, imaging data from 100,000 participants and a first-of-its kind set of protein biomarkers from 54,000 participants. Since 2012, scientists from universities, charities, companies and governments across the world can apply to use the data to advance modern medicine and drive the discovery of new preventions, treatments and cures. Over 22,000 researchers, based in more than 60 countries, are using UK Biobank data, and more than 18,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published as a result. The data are de-identified and stored on our secure cloud-based platform. UK Biobank is a registered charity and was established by Wellcome and the Medical Research Council in 2003. You can read more about its funding here .
Annals of Neurology
Data/statistical analysis
People
Genetic-Proteomic Integration Identifies Predictive Plasma Proteins for Multiple Sclerosis
22-May-2026
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