Further comparison with differentially expressed genes relating to inflammatory responses showed two molecules of these 16 with similar fold-change trends (CNTNAP2 and PDE4DIP), and a comparison with autoimmune disease states resulted in an overlap of 6 genes (SCL8A1, MALAT1, C1ORF228, CNTAP2, RIF1 and SMAD4), though 3 of these (SCL8A1, CNTAP2 and RIF1) were modulated in the opposite direction compared to MS. Here, SMAD4 is linked to autoimmune disease.