JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY

Mattioli F, Bellomi F, Stampatori C, Mariotto S, Ferrari S, Monaco S, Mancinelli C and Capra R

J Neurol (2020)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00415-020-09832-1

Abstract

Background

Serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) may be used as a biological marker of disease progression in multiple sclerosis (MS), although longitudinal studies correlating cognitive deficits to sNfL are limited.

Objective

To longitudinally investigate the relation between cognitive dysfunction, sNfL and MRI brain volume in a relapsing remitting MS patients.

Methods

18 MS patients (9 males and 9 females, mean age 45 years, mean education 12.6 years) all prescribed with interferon beta 1a (44 mcg 3 times per week), are longitudinally evaluated by means of annual clinical exam with EDSS, neuropsychological evaluation with Brief repeatable battery (BRB) and Delis Kaplan Executive function test (DKEFS), dosage of sNfL (SIMOA) and MRI.

Results

Here are reported the results of 1 year follow-up. A significantly higher sNfL in MS compared to healthy controls and higher sNfL in patients with greater cognitive impairment were found. Cognitive Impairment Index, memory, executive function tests correlated with sNfL. Gray matter volume resulted unchanged at 1-year follow-up; a weak correlation between some tests’ score and selective cortical brain areas was found.

Conclusion

Our longitudinal pilot study confirms that sNfL are related to cognitive abilities, confirming data of other authors from retrospective studies.