Plasma Neurofilament Light and Longitudinal Progression of White Matter Hyperintensity in Elderly Persons Without Dementia

Article type: Research Article

Affiliations: [a] Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, China | [b] Department of Neurology, The Affiliated Hospital of Qingdao University, Qingdao, China | [c] Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Prof. Jin-Tai Yu, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology and Institute of Neurology, Huashan Hospital, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, 12th Wulumuqi Zhong Road, Shanghai 200040, China. Tel.: +86 21 52888160; Fax: +86 21 62483421; jintai_yu@fudan.edu.cn and Prof. Lan Tan, MD, PhD, Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao 266071, China. E-mail: dr.tanlan@163.com.

Note: [#] Data used in preparation of this article were obtained from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) database (http://adni.loni.usc.edu). As such, the investigators within the ADNI contributed to the design and implementation of ADNI and/or provided data but did not participate in analysis or writing of this report. A complete listing of ADNI investigators can be found at: http://adni.loni.usc.edu/wp-content/uploads/how_to_apply/ADNI_Acknowledgement_List.pdf.

Abstract: White matter hyperintensities (WMH) is mainly caused by cerebrovascular injury and may also increase the possibilities of progression to Alzheimer’s disease. The present study aims to determine whether plasma neurofilament light (NFL) protein levels could predict the progression of WMH volume in elderly persons without dementia. The present study enrolled 1029 non-dementia participants from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative in which all had measurements of plasma NFL and WMH at baseline and 589 had longitudinal measurements during follow-up. Spearman correlation analyses and regression models were used to assess cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between plasma NFL and WMH. Plasma NFL concentration had a moderately strong correlation with WMH at baseline (r = 0.17, p < 0.001). Longitudinal analyses showed that higher baseline plasma NFL concentration was associated with accelerated progression of WMH (β=0.015, p = 0.007). Furthermore, higher change rates of plasma NFL could predict faster progression of WMH in the future (β=0.581, p = 0.002). The results of the study suggest that plasma NFL level might be used as a noninvasive biomarker to track variation trend in WMH in elderly persons without dementia.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease neuroimaging initiative, cognitively decline, non-dementia elders, noninvasive biomarker, plasma neurofilament light protein, white matter hyperintensity

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200022

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. Pre-press, no. Pre-press, pp. 1-9, 2020

Accepted 13 March 2020

Published: 15 April 2020