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. 2020 Jan 29:12:10.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2020.00010. eCollection 2020.

Plasma Neurofilament Light Chain May Be a Biomarker for the Inverse Association Between Cancers and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Shunjie Liu  1 , Zhenze Huang  2 , Lijin Zhang  3 , Junhao Pan  3 , Qingfeng Lei  1 , Yangyang Meng  1 , Zhong Li  1   4   5
Affiliations

Plasma Neurofilament Light Chain May Be a Biomarker for the Inverse Association Between Cancers and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Shunjie Liu et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

An inverse association may exist between cancers and neurodegenerative diseases, although convenient biomarkers for verifying this inverse association are lacking. Plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a novel biomarker for neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), but it has not been measured in patients with cancers, such as gastric cancer (GC). We aimed to explore whether plasma NfL could be a biomarker for GC and AD and whether an inverse association of NfL exists between GC and AD. In this study, plasma NfL levels of 60 normal controls (NC), 91 GC subjects, and 74 AD subjects were measured by a highly sensitive single-molecule array assay. We found that GC subjects expressed lower plasma NfL levels but AD subjects expressed higher plasma NfL levels than NCs. After controlling for confounding factors, plasma NfL levels in the GC group were associated with serum tumor marker levels, and plasma NfL levels in the AD group were associated with cognitive performance and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pathological marker levels. Across the entire cohort, plasma NfL levels were associated with cognitive performance, CSF pathological marker levels and serum tumor marker levels. These results suggest thatplasma NfL may be a potential biomarker for GC and AD and may be convenient for evaluating the inverse association between cancers and neurodegenerative diseases.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; biomarker; gastric cancer; inverse association; neurofilament light chain.

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Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Plasma NfL levels in NCs, GC subjects and AD subjects. The y-axis showsplasma NfL levels in the different groups. Error bars indicate SD.*p<0.05, **p<0.01, ***p<0.001.NC, normal control; GC, gastric cancer; AD, Alzheimer’s disease.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Correlations of plasma NfL levels with age, MMSE scores and MoCA scores. (A) Relationship between plasma NfL and age. (B) Relationship between plasma NfL and MMSE. (C) Relationship between plasma NfL and MoCA. Pearson’s correlation tests were employed. The numbers are the Pearson correlation coefficients. The symbol “n.s.” indicates no significant association. NfL, neurofilament light chain; MMSE, Mini-Mental State Examination; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment; NC, normal control; GC, gastric cancer; AD, Alzheimer’s disease.
FIGURE 3
FIGURE 3
Correlations between plasma NfL levels and CSF pathological biomarker levels. (A) Relationship between plasma NfL and Aβ1–42. (B) Relationship between plasma NfL and t-tau. (C) Relationship between plasma NfL and p-tau181. Spearman’s rank correlation test was employed. The numbers are the Spearman correlation coefficients. The symbol “n.s.” indicates no significant association. NfL, neurofilament light chain; Aβ1–42, amyloid β-protein 1–42; t-tau, total tau; p-tau181, phosphorylated tau 181; NC, normal control; GC, gastric cancer; AD, Alzheimer’s disease.
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