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. 2022 Mar 25;6(1):121-127.
doi: 10.3233/ADR-210047. eCollection 2022.

The Added Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light Chain to Existing Diagnostic Methods and Biomarkers in a Mixed Memory Clinic Cohort of Consecutive Patients

Helena Sophia Gleerup  1 , Anja Hviid Simonsen  1 , Peter Høgh  2   3
Affiliations

The Added Value of Cerebrospinal Fluid Neurofilament Light Chain to Existing Diagnostic Methods and Biomarkers in a Mixed Memory Clinic Cohort of Consecutive Patients

Helena Sophia Gleerup et al. J Alzheimers Dis Rep. .

Abstract

The added value of neurofilament light chain (NfL) to the existing diagnostic methods is unknown, although a plethora of studies have shown increased levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and blood in many neurodegenerative and neurological disorders. The added value of CSF NfL was determined in a mixed memory clinic cohort of consecutive patients for 136 patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 69), mild cognitive impairment (n = 24), non-AD (n = 34), and also healthy controls (n = 9). This study found no increase in the diagnostic accuracy of the etiological diagnoses but knowing the CSF NfL value led to increased diagnostic certainty for the specialist in neurology.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; biomarkers; cerebrospinal fluid; dementia; neurofilament light chain.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest to report.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
CSF NfL and the association between CSF NfL and Aβ42, p-tau, and total tau in CSF. A) The boxplot shows the median, interquartile range, and extreme values of NfL in CSF for HC, MCI, AD, and non-AD. All data in the 2.5–97.5 percentile has been included in the boxplot. B) The graph shows the relationship between CSF NfL and CSF Aβ42 for HC, MCI, AD, and non-AD. C) The graph shows the relationship between CSF NfL and CSF p-tau for HC, MCI, AD, and non-AD. D) The graph shows the relationship between CSF NfL and CSF total tau for HC, MCI, AD, and non-AD. HC, healthy controls; MCI, mild cognitive impairment; AD, Alzheimer’s disease; CSF, cerebrospinal fluid; Aβ42, amyloid 1–42; p-tau, phosphorylated tau; NfL, neurofilament light chain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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