STAT3 and secondary progressive multiple sclerosis: We used the supplemental data supplied by Gandhi and colleagues to examine cross-over between the results obtained in that study and the genes we identified as being altered in expression by susceptibility SNPs.[20] Only three genes were in common between the two sets: HLA-DQB1, HLA-DRB1 and STAT3. HLA-DRB1 was upregulated in MS, relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and secondary progressive MS compared with healthy controls.