The DOI matches its Crossref record; 86 of the 86 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Blood Neurofilament Light Chain: The Neurologist’s Troponin?
Open accessAbstract
Blood neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a marker of neuro-axonal injury showing promising associations with outcomes of interest in several neurological conditions. Although initially discovered and investigated in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the recent development of ultrasensitive digital immunoassay technologies has enabled reliable detection in serum/plasma, obviating the need for invasive lumbar punctures for longitudinal assessment. The most evidence for utility relates to multiple sclerosis (MS) where it serves as an objective measure of both the inflammatory and degenerative pathologies that characterise this disease. In this review, we summarise the physiology and pathophysiology of neurofilaments before focusing on the technological advancements that have enabled reliable quantification of NfL in blood. As the test case for clinical translation, we then highlight important recent developments linking blood NfL levels to outcomes in MS and the next steps to be overcome before this test is adopted on a routine clinical basis.
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“NfL is a structural protein that can be detected in the blood at elevated levels in a variety of neurological diseases (2–5).”
From A Method to Combine Neurofilament Light Measurements From Blood Serum and Plasma in Clinical and Population-Based Studies (2022) · cites this paper as [2]
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Cites
A serum autoantibody marker of neuromyelitis optica: distinction from multiple sclerosis
Lennon, V. A., Wingerchuk, D. M., Kryzer, T. J., Pittock, S. J., Lucchinetti, C. F., Fujihara, K., Nakashima, I., & Weinshenker, B. G. (2004) · The Lancet · doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(04)17551-x · Cited by 3,239
Neurofilaments as biomarkers in neurological disorders
Khalil, M., Teunissen, C. E., Otto, M., Piehl, F., Sormani, M. P., Gattringer, T., Barro, C., Kappos, L., Comabella, M., Fazekas, F., et al. (2018) · Nature Reviews Neurology · doi:10.1038/s41582-018-0058-z · Cited by 1,988
Ruiter, A. M., Meilof, J. F., Somanje-Bolweg, R. R. J., van Gorsel, E., & Kalkers, N. F. (2017) · Case Reports in Neurology · doi:10.1159/000455942 · Cited by 1,762
Risk of Natalizumab-Associated Progressive Multifocal Leukoencephalopathy
Bloomgren, G., Richman, S., Hotermans, C., Subramanyam, M., Goelz, S. E., Natarajan, A., Lee, S., Plavina, T., Scanlon, J. V., Sandrock, A. W., et al. (2012) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa1107829 · Cited by 1,260
Serum neurofilament light: a biomarker of neuronal damage in multiple sclerosis
Disanto, G., Barro, C., Benkert, P., Naegelin, Y., Schädelin, S., Giardiello, A., Zecca, C., Blennow, K., Zetterberg, H., Leppert, D., et al. (2017) · Annals of Neurology · doi:10.1002/ana.24954 · Cited by 1,164
A Structural Scaffolding of Intermediate Filaments in Health and Disease
Fuchs, E. V., & Cleveland, D. W. (1998) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.279.5350.514 · Cited by 1,013
Acute axonal injury in multiple sclerosis: Correlation with demyelination and inflammation
Bitsch, A. (2000) · Brain · doi:10.1093/brain/123.6.1174 · Cited by 898
Ofatumumab versus Teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis
Hauser, S. L., Bar‐Or, A., Cohen, J. A., Comı, G., Correale, J. D., Coyle, P. K., Cross, A. H., Seze, J. D., Leppert, D., Montalbán, X., et al. (2020) · New England Journal of Medicine · doi:10.1056/nejmoa1917246 · Cited by 765
Bridel, C., van Wieringen, W. N., Zetterberg, H., Tijms, B. M., Teunissen, C. E., and the NFL Group, Alvarez-Cermeño, J. C., Andreasson, U., Axelsson, M., Bäckström, D. C., et al. (2019) · JAMA Neurology · doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2019.1534 · Cited by 764
Neurofilaments and Neurofilament Proteins in Health and DiseasePreprint
Yuan, A., Rao, M. V., Veeranna, & Nixon, R. A. (2017) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Biology · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a018309 · Cited by 741
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Kapoor, 2018, Natalizumab reduced serum levels of neurofilament light chain in secondary progressive multiple sclerosis patients from the phase 3 ASCEND study, Mult. Scler. J., 24, 988
- Kuhle, 2018, Neurofilament light levels in the blood of patients with secondary progressive MS are higher than in primary progressive MS and may predict brain atrophy in both MS subtypes, Mult. Scler. J., 24, 111
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Digital Twins for Multiple Sclerosis
Voigt, I., Inojosa, H., Dillenseger, A., Haase, R., Akgün, K., & Ziemssen, T. (2021) · Frontiers in Immunology · doi:10.3389/fimmu.2021.669811 · Cited by 293
Freedman, M. S., Gnanapavan, S., Booth, R. A., Calabresi, P. A., Khalil, M., Kühle, J., Lycke, J., & Olsson, T. P. (2024) · EBioMedicine · doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2024.104970 · Cited by 216
Self-citationPrediction of good neurological outcome in comatose survivors of cardiac arrest: a systematic review
Sandroni, C., D’Arrigo, S., Cacciola, S., Hoedemaekers, C., Westhall, E., Kamps, M. J. A., Taccone, F. S., Poole, D., Meijer, F. J. A., Antonelli, M. M., et al. (2022) · Intensive Care Medicine · doi:10.1007/s00134-022-06618-z · Cited by 186
Bavato, F., Barro, C., Schnider, L. K., Simrén, J., Zetterberg, H., Seifritz, E., & Quednow, B. B. (2024) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-024-02524-6 · Cited by 94
Duffy, D. C. (2023) · Lab on a Chip · doi:10.1039/d2lc00783e · Cited by 84
Metadata
- Authors
- Thebault, S., Booth, R. A., & Freedman, M. S.
- Affiliations
- University of Ottawa (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Thebault, Simon
- Freedman, Mark S.
- Venue
- Biomedicines
- Publisher
- MDPI AG
- Published
- 2020-11-21
- Volume
- 8
- Issue
- 11
- Pages
- 523
- ISSN
- 2227-9059 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC7700209
- OpenAlex
- W3110272217
- Cited by
- 101
- References
- 86
- Citations by year
- 2026: 12 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 16 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 12
- FWCI
- 1.95
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Biomedicines (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Multiple Sclerosis Research Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Peripheral Neuropathies and Disorders
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cellular and Molecular Neuroscience › Hereditary Neurological Disorders
- Keywords
- neurofilaments, multiple sclerosis, serum biomarkers, digital immunoassay, disease-modifying therapy response, neurodegeneration, neuroinflammation, clinical translation
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