University Ulm
Neurology

Author Of 1 Presentation

Biomarkers and Bioinformatics Poster Presentation

P0152 - Serum Neurofilament levels of multiple sclerosis patients before and after treatment with injectable therapies (ID 1095)

Speakers
Presentation Number
P0152
Presentation Topic
Biomarkers and Bioinformatics

Abstract

Background

A well-established neurochemical biomarker for axonal damage is the light chain of the axonal structural protein neurofilament (NfL), which can now also be reliably quantified in serum using highly sensitive methods. Serum NfL has been shown to correlate with neuroaxonal damage in multiple sclerosis (MS) and various other neurological diseases. While serum NfL is now regularly reported in clinical approval studies, there is a lack of longitudinal data from patients treated with established basic immunotherapies outside of study conditions.

Objectives

In this open label observational study, the dynamics of serum NfL and its potential prognostic significance will be evaluated to assess whether the longitudinal measurement of serum NfL may serve as a prognostic parameter for disease activity and therapy response.

Methods

In total 34 patients with early relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) were included. The follow-up period was 24 months and patients received intermediate visits (including serum collection) at baseline and after 3, 6, 9, 12, 18 and 24 months. Therapy with glatiramer acetate was initiated in 20 patients and with interferon-beta in 12 patients. The course of the patients was characterized by disability progression (EDSS), disease activity and MRI parameters.

Results

Overall, serum NfL levels were higher at times with a current relapse event than at times without relapse (12.8 pg/ml vs. 9.7 pg/ml, p= 0.011). At follow-up, patients without relapse showed significantly reduced serum NfL at 9 months compared to baseline (p< 0.05), independent of the type of basic immunotherapy. This was not the case in patients with relapse activity within 12 or 24 months. In addition, serum NfL was also reduced at 12 months in patients with stable EDSS compared to baseline (p= 0.013). This effect was not seen in the group with stable EDSS at 24 months or in patients with EDSS progression.

Conclusions

In this explorative observational study, our data suggest that in addition to MRI the longitudinal measurement of serum NfL may be useful to monitor disease activity and therapy response. Stable or reduced serum NfL over time may be associated with a favourable disease course of MS.

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