Interferon beta therapy increases serum ferritin levels in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis

Serum ferritin levels have been found to be increased in patients with active progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). However, its levels are reported to be unchanged in stable and in active relapsing-remitting (RR) form of the disease. No research to date has assessed the influence of interferon beta (IFN-beta) on ferritin concentrations. In this study, serum ferritin levels were measured in 43 individuals with RR-MS and 38 age- and sex-matched control volunteers. There were no significant differences between controls and patients under stable and untreated conditions. In patients at 12 months after the beginning of IFN-beta therapy, ferritin levels were higher in women and in men, in comparison with baseline (71.4 +/- 58.6 vs 43.4 +/- 29.9 ng/mL, P = 0.0006 and 216.0 +/- 124.3 vs 127.8 +/- 74.9 ng/mL, P = 0.0022, respectively). These results suggest that larger prospective studies are required to evaluate the role of serum ferritin in MS and its potential usefulness in monitoring responses to immunomodulatory therapies.