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Cerebrospinal fluid tau protein is not a biological marker in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
Author(s) -
Paladino P.,
Valentino F.,
Piccoli T.,
Piccoli F.,
La Bella V.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of neurology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.881
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1468-1331
pISSN - 1351-5101
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-1331.2008.02405.x
Subject(s) - amyotrophic lateral sclerosis , cerebrospinal fluid , medicine , tau protein , pathology , multiple sclerosis , population , disease , oncology , gastroenterology , alzheimer's disease , immunology , environmental health
Background: Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder leading to progressive motor neuron cell death. Etiopathogenesis is still imperfectly known and much effort have been undertaken to find a biological marker that could help in the early diagnosis and in the monitoring of disease progression. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of tau , an axonal microtubule‐associated protein, have been measured in ALS with levels found increased in some studies and unchanged in others. Methods: Total CSF tau level was assayed in a population of ALS patients ( n = 57) and controls ( n = 110) using a specific ELISA method. Results: No significant differences in the median CSF tau levels between ALS cases and controls were found [ALS: 126 pg/ml (78–222); controls: 112 pg/ml (71–188), P = ns]. In the ALS group, the bulbar‐onset patients showed increased CSF tau levels as compared with the spinal‐onset cases. These differences might be related to the higher age of the bulbar‐onset patients. Further, no correlations were found between CSF tau concentrations and the rate of progression of the disease. Conclusions: These results do not support the hypothesis that total CSF tau protein is a reliable biological marker for ALS.