Phosphorylated Neurofilament Heavy Chain Levels in Paired Plasma and CSF of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

• Published in: Journal of the neurological sciences 2016-08, Vol.367, p.269-274
• Main Authors: Li, Siyuan, Ren, Yuting, Zhu, Wenjia, Yang, Fei, Zhang, Xiaolan, Huang, Xusheng
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - blood; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - cerebrospinal fluid; Asian Continental Ancestry Group; Biomarker; Biomarkers - blood; Biomarkers - cerebrospinal fluid; CSF; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; Female; Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Multiple System Atrophy - blood; Multiple System Atrophy - cerebrospinal fluid; Multivariate Analysis; Neurofilament; Neurofilament Proteins - blood; Neurofilament Proteins - cerebrospinal fluid; Neurology; Phosphorylation; Plasma; Proportional Hazards Models; ROC Curve; Time to generalization
• ISSN: 0022-510X; 1878-5883
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jns.2016.05.062

Abstract Background and objective. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal disease characterized by degeneration of both upper and lower motor neurons. In this study, we aimed to measure both plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) levels in patients with ALS, and determine if there is a correlation. We also evaluated plasma and CSF pNF-H levels to investigate if this biomaker could predict the time to generalization (TTG) in ALS better. Methods Paired plasma and CSF pNF-H levels of patients with ALS ( n = 51), multiple system atrophy ( n = 12) and controls ( n = 30) were measured by monoclonal sandwich ELISA. TTG, which also indicates the time of symptoms spreading from spinal or bulbar localization to both, was evaluated in all ALS patients. Results We found a strong correlation between plasma and CSF pNF-H levels within individual patients( r = 0.712, p < 0.001).The mean TTG in ALS patients was 22.9 months (range 1–84 months), and there was an inverse correlation between plasma( r = − 0.661; p < 0.001)/CSF ( r = − 0.869; p < 0.001) pNF-H levels and TTG. Conclusion The correlation of plasma and CSF pNF-H levels would bring insight into the pathogenesis of ALS. TTG might play an important role in the future study of ALS, as an early indicator of survival.