Cerebrospinal fluid tau protein is not a biological marker in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
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.
Paladino
P
P
Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, ALS Clinical Research Center, AOUP-University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy.
Valentino
F
F
Piccoli
T
T
Piccoli
F
F
La Bella
V
V
D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*
D015415:Biomarkers; D016875:tau Proteins