Biomarkers and Bioinformatics Poster Presentation

P0159 - Serum NfL predicts disability progression in MS in a six year longitudinal cohort study (ID 1196)

Speakers
  • T. Uphaus
Authors
  • T. Uphaus
  • F. Steffen
  • V. Fleischer
  • J. Loos
  • F. Zipp
  • S. Bittner
Presentation Number
P0159
Presentation Topic
Biomarkers and Bioinformatics

Abstract

Background

Immunomodulatory therapies are effective in controlling disability progression in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). Nonetheless, markers are needed to predict disease progression and transition into secondary progressive MS (SPMS) in order to guide individual treatment regimens.

Objectives

Evaluating the temporal evolution of neurofilament light chain (NfL) in patients with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) and its ability for forecasting EDSS progression and SPMS conversion within the prospective Neurofilament and long-term outcome in MS (NaloMS) cohort.

Methods

196 patients (median age 35.0 years (interquartile range (IQR) 27.2-43.1), 69.9% (n=137) female) with relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) or clinically isolated syndrome were followed for median six years (IQR 4-8). Serum was collected at baseline and follow-up (FU); serum NfL (sNfL) levels were measured by single molecule array.

Results

During the study period, 34 of 196 patients (17%) suffered from relapse-free EDSS-progression (RFP) one year prior to FU and 27 of 196 patients (14%) converted to SPMS at FU. sNfL at Baseline was increased in patients with RFP, which remained significant after multivariate correction. Baseline sNfL levels ≥ 7.3 pg/ml were associated with increased probability of RFP in Kaplan-Meier analysis. In addition, sNfL levels at FU were increased in SPMS-converters and temporal NfL increases were more frequent in patients transitioning to SPMS than in non-converters.

Conclusions

sNfL levels at baseline predict disability progression at median six year follow-up in a prospective longitudinal cohort study. Moreover, sNfL levels are more frequently increased at follow-up compared to baseline in patients transitioning to SPMS. Therefore, temporal evolution of sNfL might thus be an ancillary tool facilitating timely SPMS diagnosis.

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