Spotorno, N;
Lindberg, O;
Nilsson, C;
Landqvist Waldö, M;
Van Westen, D;
Nilsson, K;
Vestberg, S;
... Alexander, S; + view all
(2020)
Plasma neurofilament light protein correlates with diffusion tensor imaging metrics in frontotemporal dementia.
PLOS ONE
, 15
(10)
, Article e0236384. 10.1371/journal.pone.0236384.
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Abstract
Neurofilaments are structural components of neurons and are particularly abundant in highly myelinated axons. The levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) in both cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma have been related to degeneration in several neurodegenerative conditions including frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and NfL is currently considered as the most promising diagnostic and prognostic fluid biomarker in FTD. Although the location and function of filaments in the healthy nervous system suggests a link between increased NfL and white matter degeneration, such a claim has not been fully elucidated in vivo, especially in the context of FTD. The present study provides evidence of an association between the plasma levels of NfL and white matter involvement in behavioral variant FTD (bvFTD) by relating plasma concentration of NfL to diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) metrics in a group of 20 bvFTD patients. The results of both voxel-wise and tract specific analysis showed that increased plasma NfL concentration is associated with a reduction in fractional anisotropy (FA) in a widespread set of white matter tracts including the superior longitudinal fasciculus, the fronto-occipital fasciculus the anterior thalamic radiation and the dorsal cingulum bundle. Plasma NfL concentration also correlated with cortical thinning in a portion of the right medial prefrontal cortex and of the right lateral orbitofrontal cortex. These results support the hypothesis that blood NfL levels reflect the global level of neurodegeneration in bvFTD and help to advance our understanding of the association between this blood biomarker for FTD and the disease process.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Plasma neurofilament light protein correlates with diffusion tensor imaging metrics in frontotemporal dementia |
| Location: | United States |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1371/journal.pone.0236384 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0236384 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © 2020 Spotorno et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. |
| Keywords: | Central nervous system, Frontotemporal dementia, Diffusion tensor imaging, Blood plasma, Cerebrospinal fluid, Neurofilaments, Axons, Biomarkers |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology > Neurodegenerative Diseases |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10113790 |
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