【Background】: Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) were two major motor neuron diseases with similar symptoms and poor outcomes. This study aimed to identify potential biomarkers in disease monitoring and differential diagnosis of adult SMA patients with sporadic ALS patients.

【Methods】: This was a pilot study with ten adult SMA patients and ten ALS patients consecutively enrolled during hospitalization. Serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were collected for assessment of neurofilament light (NFL) and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chain (pNFH). Serum creatine kinase (CK) and creatinine (Cr) were also compared between groups. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify differentiated values among ALS and SMA patients.

【Detection Methods】: Serum neurofilament light (NFL) concentrations were analyzed by single molecular array (AstraBio, Suzhou, China) assay and the fully automated instrument AST-DX90 Analyzer (AstraBio, Suzhou, China) following the manufacturer's instructions. The mean interassay and intraassay CV were both less than 10%.

【Results】: Serum Cr, CSF NFL, and CSF pNFH levels of ALS patients were significantly higher than those of the adult SMA patients (p < .01). Serum CK and Cr were strongly correlated with baseline ALSFRS-R scores in SMA patients (p < .001). The ROC curves revealed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.94 in serum Cr with a cut-off value of 44.5 μmol/L (Sensitivity 90%, Specificity 90%). AUC from the ROC curve of CSF NFL and CSF pNFH were 1.0 and 0.84, with cut-off values of 1275 pg/mL and 0.395 ng/mL, respectively (Sensitivity and Specificity of 100% and 100% in CSF NFL; Sensitivity and Specificity of 90% and 80% in CSF pNFH).

【Conclusion】: CSF NFL和pNFH可作為成人SMA和ALS的鑒別診斷指標。CSF NFL and pNFH might be useful biomarkers for differential diagnosis of adult SMA and ALS.


DOI https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2997