Serum glial fibrillary acidic protein is a body fluid biomarker: A valuable prognostic for neurological disease – A systematic review

• Published in: International immunopharmacology 2022-06, Vol.107, p.108624-108624, Article 108624
• Main Authors: Heimfarth, Luana, Passos, Fabiolla Rocha Santos, Monteiro, Brenda Souza, Araújo, Adriano Antunes de Souza, Quintans Júnior, Lucindo José, Quintans, Jullyana de Souza Siqueira
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Asthma; Astrocytes; Ataxia; Autism; Biomarkers; Blood; Body fluids; Central nervous system; COVID-19; Degeneration; Diabetes mellitus; Disintegration; Epilepsy; Friedreich's ataxia; Frontotemporal dementia; GFAP; Glial fibrillary acidic protein; Glioblastoma; Intermediate filament; Ketoacidosis; Mental depression; Mental disorders; Movement disorders; Multiple sclerosis; Neurodegeneration; Neurodegenerative diseases; Neurological diseases; Neurological disorders; Neuronal-glial interactions; Parkinson's disease; Proteins; Reviews; Schizophrenia; Search methods; Seizures; Spinal cord injuries; Systematic review
• ISSN: 1567-5769; 1878-1705
• DOI: 10.1016/j.intimp.2022.108624

•Systematic review that shows the GFAP as a biomarker to detect neurological disorder.•Serum levels of GFAP is a useful prognostic tool for neurological diseases.•Elevated serum levels of GFAP is a useful prognostic tool for COVID-19. Astrocytes are the most abundant cell type in the human central nervous system, and they play an important role in the regulation of neuronal physiology. In neurological disorders, astrocyte disintegration leads to the release of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) from tissue into the bloodstream. Elevated serum levels of GFAP can serve as blood biomarkers, and a useful prognostic tool to facilitate the early diagnosis of several neurological diseases ranging from stroke to neurodegenerative disorders. This systematic review synthesizes studies published between January 2012 and September 2021 that used GFAP as a potential blood biomarker to detect neurological disorders. The following electronic databases were accessed: MEDLINE, Scopus, and Web of Science. In all the databases, the following search strategy was used: ¨GFAP¨ OR ¨glial fibrillary acidic protein¨ AND ¨neurological¨ OR ¨neurodegenerative¨ AND ¨plasma¨ OR ¨serum¨. The initial search identified 1152 articles. After the exclusion criteria were applied, 48 publications that reported GFAP levels in neurological disorders were identified. A total of16 different neurological disorders that have plasmatic GFAP levels as a possible biomarker for the disease were described in the articles, being: multiple sclerosis, frontotemporal lobar degeneration, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, COVID-19, epileptic seizures, Wilson Disease, diabetic ketoacidosis, schizophrenia, autism spectrum disorders, major depressive disorder, glioblastoma, spinal cord injury, asthma, neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder and Friedreich’s ataxia. Our review shows an association between GFAP levels and the disease being studied, suggesting that elevated GFAP levels are a potentially valuable diagnostic biomarker in the evaluation of different neurological diseases.