Neurológia pre prax 3/2021

Neurofilament light chain and disease activity in patients with multiple sclerosis

The goal of effective treatment of multiple sclerosis with the latest drugs is to prevent the patient's progressive disability. Unmet need for daily practice is the absence of valid laboratory biomarkers, which, in addition to imaging methods such as magnetic resonance imaging of the brain and spinal cord, would show us the current activity of the disease in an individual patient and the effect of treatment. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is considered to be a non-specific biomarker of neurodegeneration and is easily examined from the blood. In this work, we present an overview of the results of studies evaluating the relationships between blood NfL levels and disease activity, inflammatory and neurodegenerative manifestations and response to treatment.

Keywords: multiple sclerosis, disease activity, neurofilament, biomarkers