en Neurology Research (Original) <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Introduction:</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> Multiple sclerosis is a chronic central nervous system disorder with an unknown etiology. Osteopontin is a pro-inflammatory cytokine that has been implicated in MS pathogenesis. This study aimed to investigate OPN levels in relapsing-remitting MS patients and compare them with healthy individuals to determine its potential role as a biomarker.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Methods:</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> A case-control study was conducted on MS patients referred to BooAli Hospital in Sari. Fifty relapsing-remitting MS patients and 30 healthy controls were included. Plasma OPN levels were assessed using ELISA kits, and we considered the p-value < 0.05 significant.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Findings: </span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Among the participants, the MS group was composed of 30 women (60%) and 20 men (40%), while the healthy group comprised 20 women (66.7%) and ten men (33.3%). Notably, OPN levels were significantly elevated in the MS group compared to the healthy individuals (p-value < 0.001). No difference in OPN levels was observed between male and female MS patients (p-value = 0.4). A significant inverse correlation was also identified between the EDSS score and OPN levels (p-value = 0.01).</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span style="line-height:107%"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times="">Conclusion:</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:14.0pt"><span style="line-height:107%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""> This study demonstrates elevated OPN levels in relapsing-remitting MS patients compared to healthy individuals, suggesting its potential as a biomarker for disease activity in MS.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Multiple Sclerosis, Osteopontin, Pro-inflammatory cytokines, Case-control study, Relapsing-remitting MS, Biomarker, EDSS score 30 35 http://tbsrj.mazums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-3575-8&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mehran Frouzanian frouzanian@gmail.com 100319475328460032036 100319475328460032036 Yes Ali Ashoori aliashoori@gmail.com 100319475328460032037 100319475328460032037 No Seyed Mohammad Baghbanian mohammadbaghbanian@gmail.com 100319475328460032038 100319475328460032038 No Hatef Ghasemi Hamidabadi hatefdr@gmail.com 100319475328460032039 100319475328460032039 No