new biomarker: Neurofilament light chain

[frodo]

As of today there is no universally accepted biomarker. Maybe this will be the first one.

Neurofilament light chain in cerebrospinal fluid and prediction of disease activity
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 13274/full

Results

In a logistic regression analysis model, NFL in CSF at baseline emerged as the best predictive marker, correctly classifying 93% of patients who showed evidence of disease activity during 2 years of follow-up and 67% of patients who did not, with an overall proportion of 85% (33 of 39 patients) correctly classified. Combining NFL with either neurofilament heavy chain or osteopontin resulted in 87% overall correctly classified patients, whereas combining NFL with a chemokine did not improve results.

Conclusions

This study demonstrates the potential prognostic value of NFL in baseline CSF in CIS and relapsing–remitting MS and supports its use as a predictive biomarker of disease activity.