To evaluate the reactivity of monocytes to inflammatory stimuli, monocytes isolated from PBMCs of healthy control (HC), as well as MS and NMOSD patients (Additional file 1: Figure S1-A), were stimulated with IFN-γ and/or CD40L (n = 15 each) to mimic the inflammatory state, as previously reported [22, 23]. This evidence concerns the gene CD40LG and myeloid sarcoma.