Brain-Specific Cytoskeletal Damage Markers in Cerebrospinal Fluid: Is There a Common Pattern between Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis?
Many neurodegenerative disorders share a common pathophysiological pathway involving axonal degeneration despite different etiological triggers. Analysis of cytoskeletal markers such as neurofilaments, protein tau and tubulin in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) may be a useful approach to detect the process of axonal damage and its severity during disease course. In this article, we review the published literature regarding brain-specific CSF markers for cytoskeletal damage in primary progressive multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in order to evaluate their utility as a biomarker for disease progression in conjunction with imaging and histological markers which might also be useful in other neurodegenerative diseases associated with affection of the upper motor neurons. A long-term benefit of such an approach could be facilitating early diagnostic and prognostic tools and assessment of treatment efficacy of disease modifying drugs.
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. ahmed.abdelhak@uni-ulm.de.
Ahmed
A
Abdelhak
Institute of Neuropathology, University Hospital Göttingen, Robert-Koch-Str 40, 37075 Göttingen, Germany. andreas.junker@med.uni-goettingen.de.
Andreas
A
Junker
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. jbre@mail.med.upenn.edu.
Johannes
J
Brettschneider
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. jan.kassubek@uni-ulm.de.
Jan
J
Kassubek
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. albert.ludolph@rku.de.
Albert C
AC
Ludolph
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. markus.otto@uni-ulm.de.
Markus
M
Otto
Department of Neurology, Ulm University, Oberer Eselsberg 45, 89081 Ulm, Germany. hayrettin.tumani@uni-ulm.de.
Hayrettin
H
Tumani
D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D003599:Cytoskeleton / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009046:Motor Neurons / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020528:Multiple Sclerosis, Chronic Progressive / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014404:Tubulin / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D016875:tau Proteins / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid
D015415:Biomarkers; D014404:Tubulin; D016875:tau Proteins
amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); biomarker; neurofilaments; primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS); tau; tubulin