The Calm Between Storms

Carolyn Goldschmidt, Robert A. Bermel
2021 Neurology: Neuroimmunology & Neuroinflammation  
Cytoskeletal structural proteins, released when cellular damage occurs, are biomarker candidates under investigation for many neurologic diseases. Among the potential markers, neurofilament light chain (NfL), expressed in neurons, and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), expressed in astrocytes, can now be measured in the serum (sNfL and sGFAP) thanks to advances in highly sensitive analytic methodologies, with strong correlation to CSF levels. 2] [3] [4] Not surprisingly, levels of sGFAP
more » ... rease during NMOSD relapses, as the disease process is primarily an astrocytopathy mediated by AQP4-IgG. 4, 5 More complex questions include how these levels change in between relapses, during disease stability, and if this could be useful in determining treatment response, predicting disability progression, or guiding therapy.
doi:10.1212/nxi.0000000000000988 pmid:33846269 fatcat:pq62ahbo55edpma7mwcvkac3qq