Plasma neurofilament heavy chain levels in Huntington's disease.

Full Abstract

There is a need for biomarkers of onset and progression in Huntington's disease (HD), as current outcome measures lack the reliability to enable the efficient conduct of disease-modifying trials. Neurofilament heavy chain (NfH) is a neuron-specific protein for the neuro-axonal compartment that has been proposed as a marker for axonal injury, degeneration and loss and its clinical use as a biomarker has been suggested in several neurodegenerative diseases. We used an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to quantify NfH levels in plasma in control subjects, premanifest HD mutation carriers and subjects with early and moderate manifest HD. We found no correlation between plasma NfH level and disease stage, or calculated parameters based on CAG repeat length, the major determinant of disease course in HD, and no evidence that NfH may be a predictor of disease onset. We conclude that plasma NfH concentration is not a useful biomarker of onset or progression in HD.

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Author information

Author/s: Wild, Edward J (EJ); Petzold, Axel (A); Keir, Geoff (G); Tabrizi, Sarah J (SJ);

Affiliation: Department of Neurodegenerative Disease, Institute of Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London, Queen Square, London WC1N 3BG, UK.

Grants: (Agency:Wellcome Trust)

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett), published in Ireland. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2007-May; vol 417 (issue 3) : pp 231-3

Dates: Created 2007/04/23; Completed 2007/07/25; Revised 2007/08/13;

PMID: 17363167, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Adult
Aged
Axons - metabolism; pathology
Biological Markers - analysis; blood
Brain - metabolism; physiopathology
Brain Chemistry - physiology
Disease Progression
Early Diagnosis
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Female
Heterozygote Detection - methods
Humans

Humans
Huntington Disease - blood; diagnosis; physiopathology
Male
Middle Aged
Mutation - genetics
Nerve Degeneration - blood; pathology; physiopathology
Nerve Tissue Proteins - genetics
Neurofilament Proteins - analysis; blood
Nuclear Proteins - genetics
Predictive Value of Tests
Prognosis
Trinucleotide Repeat Expansion - genetics

Associated Chemicals: Biological Markers (0) ; HD protein, human (0) ; Nerve Tissue Proteins (0) ; Neurofilament Proteins (0) ; Nuclear Proteins (0)

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