Funding ended prematurely

Multi-center observational study to assess the short-term response of multiple sclerosis (MS) patients initiated on Ozanimod with respect to fatigue. Patterns of brain changes on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that might modulate the effect of Ozanimod treatment on fatigue will also be assessed.

Primary objectives:

1. To assess the effect of Ozanimod treatment on the impact of fatigue on physical, cognitive, and psychosocial functions, as measured by the modified fatigue impact scale (MFIS).
2. To assess the impact of fronto-striatal damage on the association between Ozanimod treatment and fatigue.

Secondary objectives:

1. To assess the effect of Ozanimod treatment on fatigue severity, mood symptoms (ie, depression and anxiety), sleep quality, physical activity, reward responsiveness and cognitive functions over the first 3-month after treatment initiation with Ozanimod.
2. To assess the time course of changes by daily administration of visual analogue scales of fatigue, depression, anxiety, and pain, and monthly administration of self-assessment questionnaires for fatigue, depression and anxiety using a mobile application.
3. In addition to the hypothesis-driven analyses specifically targeting the fronto-striatal system, the investigators will also perform analyses designed to discover other potential brain MRI predictors of Ozanimod treatment response (ie, change in primary and/or secondary endpoints during the 3-month Ozanimod treatment). The investigators will perform global and regional (e.g., cerebral cortical, deep grey matter, hippocampal) volumetric measurements as well as well-established voxel-based image statistics to seek other potential patterns of brain atrophy that identify responders to Ozanimod. Resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) will also be performed to seek potential markers of fatigue related to functional brain connectivity changes.
4. To establish patient compliance in using the aforementioned mobile app, and the robustness of app-based phenotypic characterization of fatigue and related symptoms on real-world patients. These observations will lay the basis for future prospective studies on larger patient cohorts. For this purpose, recruitment will also be expanded to patients treated with disease modifying drugs other than Ozanimod.

Primary hypothesis:

Patients without significant damage to fronto-striatal circuitry (ie, fronto-striatal fractional anisotropy (FA)≥0.26 on diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI)) show significant decrease in fatigue score over the first 3-month after treatment initiation with Ozanimod.

Study assessments:

Treatment schedule and dosage of Ozanimod and the other disease-modifying treatments (DMTs) will be solely based on clinical indication and will be instituted by the patient's treating neurologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital or Massachusetts General Hospital. The proposed study is purely observational and will not influence the selection, schedule or dosage of patient treatments. Therefore, no safety assessment will be performed within the study.

All endpoints and confounders will be assessed using state-of-the art mobile/wearable technology, while the patient is on her/his/their normal routine at home and/or at work, including self-isolated quarantine. All patient-reported outcomes (PROs) will be assessed using a mobile application developed by the study team. The first version of the mobile application was already tested and used in a prospective brain MRI study of MS-related fatigue (MGB IRB Protocol number: 2017P001239). The mobile application will be modified and adapted to make it specifically suitable for the proposed study. The application will be installed on an Android smartphone that will be provided to each subject. The application will communicate using end-to-end encryption (https protocol) with a server inside the MGB firewall. Data will be transmitted between the mobile app and the server in deidentified and coded form.

Continuous actigraphy will be performed using wrist-worn actigraphic watches to assess quantitative physical activity (during daytime) and sleep measures (at night) during the entire 3-months period of the trial. These devices also measure other bio-signals as for instance skin conductivity and heart rhythm, as well as light exposure.

Presence/absence of obstructive sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome will be assessed once between day 0 and day 3 of the trial period using a home sleep test (HST) device.

Subjects will receive the study devices in person or via postal mail and will be instructed how to use the devices in person or via video conference call in compliance with COVID-19 regulations.

Each patient will undergo 3 Tesla brain Magnetic Resonance Imaging, including diffusion tensor, T1-weighted, T2-weighted, FLAIR and rsfMRI imaging at Brigham and Women's Hospital at baseline.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. age≥18
2. diagnosis of MS (according to the 2010 McDonald criteria)

Exclusion Criteria:

1. neurodegenerative disorders other than MS
2. terminal medical condition
3. currently treated for active malignancy
4. alcohol or substance abuse in the past year, except marijuana
5. non-English speakers (the mobile application is not available in other languages)
6. inability to undergo MRI scan

Patients undergoing COVID-19 vaccination will be allowed to participate in the study if at least 2 weeks have elapsed from their last dose of vaccine.

All MS patients seen at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital who fit our selection criteria (see below) will be eligible to participate in this study. Since MS is 2-3 times more common in women, investigators expect that more women than men will participate.