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. 2025 Jan 12;17(1):89.
doi: 10.3390/v17010089.

CXCL-10 in Cerebrospinal Fluid Detects Neuroinflammation in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy with High Accuracy

Samya Jezine Da Silva  1 , Mauro Jorge Cabral-Castro  2 , Luiz Claudio Faria  3 , Carolina Rosadas  4 , Maria Fernanda Lopes de Araújo  5 , Ana Caroline Soares Dutra  5 , Yoshihisa Yamano  6 , Graham Taylor  4 , Marzia Puccioni-Sohler  1   3   5
Affiliations

CXCL-10 in Cerebrospinal Fluid Detects Neuroinflammation in HTLV-1-Associated Myelopathy with High Accuracy

Samya Jezine Da Silva et al. Viruses. .

Abstract

Background and objectives: HTLV-1-associated myelopathy (HAM) is a chronic progressive inflammatory disease of the spinal cord. This study assesses the diagnostic accuracy of the neuroinflammatory biomarkers neopterin and cysteine-X-cysteine motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL-10) in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) for HAM.

Methods: CSF samples from 75 patients with neurological disorders-33 with HAM (Group A), 19 HTLV-1-seronegative with other neuroinflammatory diseases (Group B), and 23 HTLV-1-seronegative with non-neuroinflammatory diseases (Group C)-were retrospectively evaluated. CSF examination included routine analysis, neopterin, and CXCL-10. The diagnostic potential of the biomarkers was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves.

Results: Higher white cell counts and concentrations of protein, neopterin, and CXCL-10 in CSF were detected in group A (patients with HAM) and group B (p < 0.05). Neopterin showed good accuracy for HAM (A) (cut-off 15 nmol/L, 80% sensitivity, 74% specificity) and other neuroinflammation (group B) (cut-off 20 nmol/L, 79% sensitivity, 83% specificity). CXCL-10 demonstrated the highest accuracy in both groups, with Group A (cut-off 110 pg/mL, 97% sensitivity, 96% specificity) and Group B (cut-off 220 pg/mL, 100% sensitivity, 100% specificity).

Conclusions: Neopterin and CXCL-10 in CSF are accurate biomarkers for detecting neuroinflammation, including HAM. CXCL-10, in particular, is the superior biomarker for both chronic and acute neuroinflammatory diseases.

Keywords: CXCL-10; HTLV-1-associated myelopathy; accuracy; biomarker; cerebrospinal fluid; diagnosis; neopterin.

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Conflict of interest statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author declares that there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CSF characteristic differences among the three groups (HAM, Inflammatory, and Non-Inflammatory groups). CSF characteristics were compared using Kruskal–Wallis ANOVA, followed by Dunn’s multiple comparison test.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve for neopterin and CXCL-10 in CSF. Differentiating between HAM neuroinflammatory groups relative to the non-neuroinflammatory control group in (A,B), and between HAM and inflammatory groups in (C).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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