title: Phosphorylated neurofilament subunit NF-H becomes elevated in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients with acutely worsening symptoms of compression myelopathy.
abstract: It is known that the severity of compression myelopathy sometimes worsens rapidly and results in poor functional recovery because of limited axonal regeneration. Levels of phosphorylated neurofilament subunit NF-H (pNF-H), which indicate axonal degeneration, are elevated in other neurological disorders. To our knowledge, there has been no examination of pNF-H levels in compression myelopathy. Therefore, we conducted a pilot cross-sectional study to evaluate pNF-H levels in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of patients with worsening symptoms of cervical compression myelopathy. From January 2011 to March 2013, 51 samples of CSF were collected from patients at the time of myelography before spinal surgery. The indications for surgery were acutely worsening compression myelopathy (AM) in eight, chronic compression myelopathy (CM) in six, and lumbar canal stenosis (LCS) in 37 patients. The pNF-H levels were measured using a standard enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The mean ± standard deviation pNF-H value was 2127.1 ± 556.8 pg/ml in AM patients, 175.8 ± 67.38 pg/ml in CM patients and 518.7 ± 665.7 pg/ml in LCS patients. A significant increase in pNF-H levels was detected in the CSF of patients with AM compared with those with either CM or LCS. The clinical outcome of surgical treatment for patients with cervical myelopathy was satisfactory in both AM and CM patients. Despite the limitations of small sample size and lack of healthy CSF control data due to ethical considerations, our results suggest that pNF-H in CSF can act as a biomarker that reflects the severity of AM.
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan. Electronic address: hirochann@syd.odn.ne.jp.
authors: Hiroshi
authors: H
authors: Takahashi
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Yasuchika
authors: Y
authors: Aoki
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Arata
authors: A
authors: Nakajima
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Masato
authors: M
authors: Sonobe
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Fumiaki
authors: F
authors: Terajima
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Masahiko
authors: M
authors: Saito
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Shinji
authors: S
authors: Taniguchi
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Manabu
authors: M
authors: Yamada
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Fusako
authors: F
authors: Watanabe
authors: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
authors: Takeo
authors: T
authors: Furuya
authors: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
authors: Masao
authors: M
authors: Koda
authors: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tsukuba, Japan.
authors: Masashi
authors: M
authors: Yamazaki
authors: Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Japan.
authors: Kazuhisa
authors: K
authors: Takahashi
authors: Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1, Shimoshizu, Sakura City, Chiba 285-8741, Japan.
authors: Koichi
authors: K
authors: Nakagawa
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D002908:Chronic Disease; D003251:Constriction, Pathologic / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000151:congenital; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae / Q000002:abnormalities; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013117:Spinal Cord Compression / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000601:surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016900:Neurofilament Proteins; C051774:neurofilament protein H
keywords: Biomarker; Cerebrospinal fluid; Compression myelopathy; pNF-H