Fig. 2

a Gene set enrichment analysis comparing controls vs MS samples at the Biocarta pathway level. The table reports the 17 pathways showing the strongest modulation, selected for having a significant p value in at least 2 of the 3 different statistical approaches utilised (LS/KS permutation and Efron-Tibshirani’s GSA test). b Heatmap showing the level of expression of TNF-related genes clustered into two distinct groups of genes, pro-cell death and pro-survival signalling, preferentially expressed in the cortical lesions (GML) of follicle-positive secondary progressive MS case (F+ SPMS) and of follicle-negative secondary progressive MS case (F− SPMS) respect to the cortex in healthy controls. Asterisks define the gene validated by real-time RT-PCR