Document is current

Article History

Received: 22 December 2020

Accepted: 24 March 2021

First Online: 1 May 2021

Declarations

:

: The study was approved by the institutional review board, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (EA1/131/09 and EA1/182/10) and all participants provided written informed consent.

: Not applicable.

: PS reports no disclosures.UG reports no disclosures.JO has received travel grants from Novartis, Biogen and Bayer.DL has been a Novartis employee until 2019/1.NS reports no disclosures.ASD reports no disclosures.FCO was employed by Nocturne, unrelated to this project.SA received a conference grant from Celgene and speaking fees from Bayer healthcare and Roche, unrelated to this project.JK reports no disclosures.HGZ received research grants from Novartis and speaking fees from Bayer Healthcare, unrelated to this project.AUB is cofounder and shareholder of medical technology companies Nocturne GmbH and Motognosis GmbH. He is named as inventor on several patent applications describing MS biomarkers, visual perceptive computing based motor function analysis, and retinal image analysis.PB reports no disclosures.MR The Medical University of Innsbruck and the University Hospital Innsbruck receive payments for antibody assays (AQP4 and other anti-neuronal and anti-glial antibodies) and for AQP4 antibody validation assays organized by Euroimmun (Luebeck, Germany).SJ was indirectly supported by grants from Dietmar Hopp Foundation, Merck Serono and German Ministry of Education and Research (to Department of Neurology, University Hospital Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany; Prof. B. Wildemann).FP served on the scientific advisory boards of Novartis and MedImmune; received travel funding and/or speaker honoraria from Bayer, Novartis, Biogen, Teva, Sanofi-Aventis/Genzyme, Merck Serono, Alexion, Chugai, MedImmune, and Shire; is an associate editor of <i>Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation</i>; is an academic editor of <i>PLoS ONE</i>; consulted for Sanofi Genzyme, Biogen, MedImmune, Shire, and Alexion; received research support from Bayer, Novartis, Biogen, Teva, Sanofi-Aventis/Geynzme, Alexion, and Merck Serono; and received research support from the German Research Council, Werth Stiftung of the City of Cologne, German Ministry of Education and Research, Arthur Arnstein Stiftung Berlin, EU FP7 Framework Program, Arthur Arnstein Foundation Berlin, Guthy-Jackson Charitable Foundation, and NMSS.JBS has received travel grants and speaking honoraria from Bayer Healthcare, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, Sanofi Genzyme, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Roche, and Novartis, none of them related to this project.JK received speaker fees, research support, travel support, and/or served on advisory boards by ECTRIMS, Swiss MS Society, Swiss National Research Foundation, (320030_189140 / 1), University of Basel, Bayer, Biogen, Celgene, Merck, Novartis, Roche, Sanofi, Teva.KR received research support from Novartis, Merck Serono, German Ministry of Education and Research, European Union (821283-2), Stiftung Charité (BIH Clinical Fellow Program) and Arthur Arnstein Foundation; received speaker honoraria and travel grants from Bayer, Biogen Idec, Merck Serono, sanofi-aventis/Genzyme, Teva, Roche, Novartis, and Guthy Jackson Charitable Foundation.