Neurofilament heavy subunit in cerebrospinal fluid: A biomarker of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis?

Abstract

The objectives of this study were to investigate the presence of the three neurofilament subunits, ubiquitin, proteasome and 3-nitrotyrosine, in CSF samples of ALS patients. CSF samples were obtained by lumbar puncture from 10 ALS patients and six controls. All samples were analysed by Western blotting. Results revealed that neurofilament heavy subunit was identified in 70% of ALS cases and we conclude that this subunit may be a promising biomarker for clinical diagnosis of ALS.

Key words::

• Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
• cerebrospinal fluid
• proteinopathy
• protein aggregation and neurofilament

Acknowledgements

We thank Mário Ary Pires Neto, José Mauro Braz de Lima, Marly Pernes da Silva Loureiro and Marzia Puccioni Sohler for their support, and Lilian Ayres Sá, Heliomar Pereira Marcos and Suely Menezes da Cunha for their excellent technical assistance. This study was supported by FAPERJ, CNPq, CAPES, and FUJB.

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.