Neurofilament light chain protein in neurodegenerative dementia: A systematic review and network meta-analysis
Abstract
The diagnostic value of neurofilament light chain protein in neurodegenerative dementia diseases is still controversial. A systematic literature search was performed to identify relevant case-control studies conducted through October 2018. Traditional and net meta-analyses were performed based on 42 studies that tested the diagnostic performance of neurofilament light chain protein (NfL) concentration in CSF and serum/plasma from patients with neurodegenerative dementia. CSF and serum/plasma NfL levels were significantly increased in patients with neurodegenerative dementia diseases. Network meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in CSF NfL levels during mild cognitive impairment, whereas an increase was observed in vascular dementia compared to Alzheimer's disease. Surface under the cumulative ranking curve and cluster analysis showed that the NfL concentration in CSF (vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, and Alzheimer's disease) and serum/plasma (frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease) ranked first among neurodegenerative dementia diseases. NfL is an important biomarker that can help clinical neurologists make early diagnoses of neurodegenerative diseases, so patients can receive prompt treatment.
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Systematic reviews and meta-analyses encountered limitations when combining results from studies using serum and plasma NfL concentrations.
“Studies using serum as well as plasma NfL concentrations are abundant in the literature, but systematic reviews and meta-analyses encountered limitations when combining results from these studies (7–9).”
From A Method to Combine Neurofilament Light Measurements From Blood Serum and Plasma in Clinical and Population-Based Studies (2022) · cites this paper as [9]
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- Authors
- Zhao, Y., Xin, Y., Meng, S., He, Z., & Hu, W.
- Affiliations
- First Hospital of China Medical University (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Hu, Wenyu
- Venue
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2019-07
- Volume
- 102
- Pages
- 123-138
- ISSN
- 0149-7634 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2940916069
- Cited by
- 105
- References
- 12
- Citations by year
- 2026: 11 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 18 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 13 · 2019: 3
- FWCI
- 1.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- China Scholarship Council
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Dementia and Cognitive Impairment Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neurological Disease Mechanisms and Treatments
- Keywords
- neurofilament light chain, neurodegenerative dementia, Alzheimer's disease, vascular dementia, frontotemporal dementia, mild cognitive impairment, cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers, diagnostic accuracy, early diagnosis
- MeSH terms
- Network Meta-Analysis, Alzheimer Disease, Humans, Dementia, Vascular, Biomarkers, Neurofilament Proteins, Lewy Body Disease, Frontotemporal Dementia
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