Serum neurofilament and glial fibrillary acidic protein in idiopathic and seropositive transverse myelitis

Abstract

Background: Serum levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) reflect the disease activity and disability in central nervous system (CNS) demyelinating diseases. However, the clinical significance of NfL and GFAP in idiopathic transverse myelitis (iTM), an inflammatory spinal cord disease with unknown underlying causes, remains unclear. This study aimed to investigate NfL and GFAP levels in iTM and their association with the clinical parameters compared with those in TM with disease-specific antibodies such as anti-aquaporin 4 or myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibodies (sTM).

Methods: We collected serum and clinical data of 365 patients with CNS inflammatory diseases from 12 hospitals. The serum NfL and GFAP levels were measured in patients with iTM (n = 37) and sTM (n = 39) using ultrasensitive single-molecule array assays. Regression analysis was performed to investigate the associations between serum levels of NfL and GFAP and the clinical parameters such as higher EDSS scores (EDSS ≥ 4.0).

Results: Mean NfL levels were not significantly different between iTM (50.29 pg/ml) and sTM (63.18 pg/ml) (p = 0.824). GFAP levels were significantly lower in iTM (112.34 pg/ml) than in sTM (3814.20 pg/ml) (p = 0.006). NfL levels correlated with expanded disability status scale (EDSS) scores in sTM (p = 0.001) but not in iTM (p = 0.824). Disease duration also correlated with higher EDSS scores in sTM (p = 0.017).

Conclusion: NfL levels and disease duration correlated with EDSS scores in sTM, and GFAP levels could be a promising biomarker to differentiate iTM from sTM.