The association between serum neurofilament light level among multiple sclerosis patients saba ahmed jasim furaiji

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is "an inflammatory and autoimmune disease of central nervous system (CNS). Infiltrates that are thought to be related to inflammation, including CD4 and CD8 T cells, activated monocytes, and B cells are located within the lesions in the CNS. As a result, they cause damage to the myelin sheath. Several biomarkers have been studied in recent years to predict the diagnosis, disease susceptibility, treatment response, and prognosis of MS. However, the clinical significance of many of these biomarkers has not been confirmed, and in clinical practice neither, a significant nor a specific relationship has not been concluded related to the course of the disease. One of these biomarkers is neuroflaments. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between the serum neurofilament light chain levels and attack type, attack frequency, EDSS scores, magnetic resonance imaging, and CSF findings, in Multiple Sclerosis patients. Patients included in this study were selected among the ones that were admitted to Neurology Outpatient Clinic. The study groups consisted of 100 patients who were diagnosed with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis according to Mcdonald criterias, did not have a recent attack history, and have had at least 6 months passed since their last attack. 60 healthy person with no history of any neurological diseases was chosen as a control. Age, gender, duration of disease, number of attacks, type of attack (brainstem, sensory, pyramidal, optic neuritis, spinal, cerebellar) concomitant diseases, smoking history, drugs used for the disease, EDSS (expanded disability status scale) scores, laboratory results (Thyroid function tests, vasculitis panel, vitamin D level) and VEP results were recorded for all patients. Detailed neurological examinations were performed in both healthy controls and study groups. Previous cranial and spinal imaging findings of all patients were evaluated. In this evaluation; T2 lesion load, lesion distribution (supratentorial, intratensel, spinal), enhancement pattern, number of black holes and presence of atrophy were recorded. Protein level, oligoclonal band presence and type and IG G index were recorded in the cerebrospinal fluid examination. Blood samples were collected from the patients to study serum neurofilament levels and stored at -80 degrees until further analysis with the ELISA method. Serum NFL levels between MS patients and healthy controls were compared, and serum NFL levels were found to be significantly higher in MS patients (p˂0.05). No statistically significant difference was observed in the other measured parameters (p> 0.05). In this study, serum NFL levels were found to be significantly higher in MS patients, compared to healthy controls. For these reasons, this study supports serum NFL value as a reliable biomarker to track tissue damage caused by disease progression in MS patients.