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Review
. 2022 Nov 1:14:1034684.
doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2022.1034684. eCollection 2022.

Neurofilaments contribution in clinic: state of the art

Constance Delaby  1   2 , Olivier Bousiges  3 , Damien Bouvier  4 , Catherine Fillée  5 , Anthony Fourier  6 , Etienne Mondésert  1 , Nicolas Nezry  7 , Souheil Omar  8 , Isabelle Quadrio  6 , Benoit Rucheton  9 , Susanna Schraen-Maschke  7 , Vincent van Pesch  10 , Stéphanie Vicca  11 , Sylvain Lehmann  1 , Aurelie Bedel  12
Affiliations
Review

Neurofilaments contribution in clinic: state of the art

Constance Delaby et al. Front Aging Neurosci. .

Abstract

Neurological biomarkers are particularly valuable to clinicians as they can be used for diagnosis, prognosis, or response to treatment. This field of neurology has evolved considerably in recent years with the improvement of analytical methods, allowing the detection of biomarkers not only in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) but also in less invasive fluids like blood. These advances greatly facilitate the repeated quantification of biomarkers, including at asymptomatic stages of the disease. Among the various informative biomarkers of neurological disorders, neurofilaments (NfL) have proven to be of particular interest in many contexts, such as neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury, multiple sclerosis, stroke, and cancer. Here we discuss these different pathologies and the potential value of NfL assay in the management of these patients, both for diagnosis and prognosis. We also describe the added value of NfL compared to other biomarkers currently used to monitor the diseases described in this review.

Keywords: biological fluids; biomarkers; cut-off; neurofilament; neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Structure and organization of neurofilaments (Nf), adapted from Gaetani et al. (2019).
Figure 2
Figure 2
NfL release after axonal damages. NfL are detectable in CSF and blood.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Cellular origin (A) and kinetics (B) of NfL increase following traumatic brain injury (TBI) compared with other biomarkers: S100B, UCH-L1, Tau, NSE, and GFAP.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Physiological and pathological factors modifying the NfL levels in CSF and blood (non-exhaustive). A rise in NfL is not specific for a specific disease factor and may be caused by both neurodegenerative diseases or a head impact during sports for example.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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