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Cerebrospinal fluid neurofilament and glial fibrillary acidic protein in patients with cerebral vasculitis
Author(s) -
Nylén K.,
Karlsson JE.,
Blomstrand C.,
Tarkowski A.,
Trysberg E.,
Rosengren L.E.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
journal of neuroscience research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.72
H-Index - 160
eISSN - 1097-4547
pISSN - 0360-4012
DOI - 10.1002/jnr.10180
Subject(s) - cerebrospinal fluid , neurofilament , glial fibrillary acidic protein , pathology , vasculitis , cerebral vasculitis , medicine , disease , immunohistochemistry
Few diseases in clinical medicine cause as much diagnostic consternation as central nervous system (CNS) vasculitis because of its varying modes of presentation and frequently overlapping clinical and pathological features. There are no pathognomonic clinical or laboratory findings. The purpose of the present retrospective study was to validate the use of the light subunit of neurofilament triplet protein (NFL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) as markers of CNS tissue damage for patients with systemic or isolated CNS vasculitis. Levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) NFL and GFAP were measured using ELISAs. Both CSF NFL and CSF GFAP concentrations were significantly higher in a patient group diagnosed with CNS vasculitis ( P < 0.01 and P < 0.05, respectively) than in a patient group for whom CNS vasculitis was excluded. In the future, analysis of CSF NFL in particular, but also GFAP, may be a useful complement in the difficult clinical task of diagnosing CNS vasculitis. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.