International research collaboration defines age-specific reference range for blood neurofilament light chain in pediatric health.
Blood Neurofilament Light Chain (NfL) is an innovative biomarker that specifically indicates neuroaxonal injury. However, its clinical application has been constrained due to the lack of established reference ranges for children and adolescents. Accurate monitoring of neuroaxonal injury in neurologic and systemic diseases is of pivotal importance at population and individual patient levels. In the paediatric population, tools capturing neuroaxonal injury with high specificity would substantially facilitate early and accurate detection of conditions associated with short- and long-term neurological disabilities with considerable socioeconomic impact. This may as well accelerate clinical trials evaluating the expanding library of targeted causal and disease-modifying treatments.
The Study
Led by Jens Kuhle at the University Hospital of Basel and Sven Wellmann at the University Hospital of Regensburg and an international team comprising top-tier institutes from Switzerland, Germany, and the United States conducted comprehensive analyses of NfL concentrations in more than 2,500 healthy children and adolescents. This ground-breaking study has been published in the esteemed journal, The Lancet Neurology.
View Full Article on Lancet Neurology.
28 July 2023
