Objective: The aim of this study was to assess cerebro-spinal fluid (csf) NFL levels  in PD patients and healthy controls subjects.

Background: Neurofilament light chain (NFL) is one of 3 subunits of neurofilaments, which all belong to the cytoskeletal proteins and are present mainly in largery myelinated axons. CSF NFL levels have established position as biomarker in differential diagnosis between PD and atypical parkinsonism.  Some studies also confirmed the increased csf NFL levels in PD patients in comparison to healthy controls. Nevertheless data on  the difference in csf NFL levels between PD  and healthy controls are  equvical. Thus we decided to compare csf levels in PD patients and helathy control subjects. This would be potentially of interest in preclinical stage of PD.

Method: Subjects were 28 patients with PD and 28 healthy controls. All PD and control subjects underwent csf examination. All PD patients were assessed in UPDRS by neurologist specialized in movement disorders. Patients’ cognitive status was assessed in MMSE. NFL levels in csf were assessed using ELISA kit.

Results: We found statistically significant differences in csf NFL levels between PD patients and healthy controls (776,31± 698,83 vs 394,96 ±591,67 pg/nl; p<0.05). We have not found correlation between csf NFL levels and cognitive status assessed in MMSE, disease duration, disease stage assessed in Hoehn-Yahr scale, or disease severity assessed in UPDRS.

Conclusion: Our small study revelaled significantly increased csf NFL levels in PD patients. However it is still unclear, whether disease stage, disease duration and severity may be correlated with csf NFL levels, as our cohort of patients was very small.  Further studies on larger group of patients are required to explore whether csf derived NFL can be used in future as a biomarker of neurodegenerative proces in PD, especially in early, preclinical stage of PD.

References: [1]. Ge F, Ding J, Liu Y, Lin H, Chang T. Cerebrospinal fluid NFL in the differential diagnosis of parkinsonian disorders: A meta-analysis. Neurosci Lett. 2018 Oct 15;685:35-41. [2]. Constantinescu R, Rosengren L, Johnels B, Zetterberg H, Holmberg B. Consecutive analyses of cerebrospinal fluid axonal and glial markers in Parkinson’s disease and atypical Parkinsonian disorders. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2010 Feb;16(2):142-145.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/csf-levels-of-nfl-neurofilament-light-chain-in-parkinsons-disease-patients/