Affiliation:
1. Department of Neurology and Laboratory of Neuroscience IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano Milan Italy
2. Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Dino Ferrari Center Università degli Studi di Milano Milan Italy
3. Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods University of Milano‐Bicocca Milan Italy
4. Biostatistics Unit IRCCS Istituto Auxologico Italiano Milan Italy
Abstract
AbstractBackground and purposeNeurofilament light chain (NFL) has been shown to be increased in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and, to a lesser extent, in frontotemporal dementia (FTD). A meta‐analysis of NFL in ALS and FTD was performed.MethodsAvailable studies comparing cerebrospinal fluid and blood NFL levels in ALS versus neurologically healthy controls (NHCs), other neurological diseases (ONDs) and ALS mimics, as well as in FTD and related entities (behavioural variant of FTD and frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes) versus NHCs, ONDs and other dementias were evaluated.ResultsIn ALS, both cerebrospinal fluid and blood levels of NFL were higher compared to other categories. In FTD, behavioural variant of FTD and frontotemporal lobar degeneration syndromes, NFL levels were consistently higher compared to NHCs; however, several comparisons with ONDs and other dementias did not demonstrate significant differences.DiscussionAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis is characterized by higher NFL levels compared to most other conditions. In contrast, NFL is not as good at discriminating FTD from other dementias.