Objective: To evaluate the relationship between motor, cognitive and autonomic symptoms and serum Neurofilament light chain levels in Lewy bodies disorders, namely Parkinson’ s disease (PD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB).

Background: Serum and CSF neurofilament light chain (NfL) levels have been proposed as markers of neurodegeneration. Several studies showed as NfL levels could be used to discriminate between Parkinson’s disease and atypical parkinsonism. The relationship between serum NfL levels, motor and non-motor functions in Lewy bodies diseases is still theme of discussion.

Method: Serum NfL was assessed in a cross-sectional study including patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD, n=92) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB, n=27). We evaluate the correlation between NfL levels and motor, non-motor symptoms, cognitive and behavioral abnormalities in PD and DLB. All analyses are corrected for age, sex and disease duration.

Results: Serum NfL correlated with age and age at onset in the cohort; PD showed lower NfL levels compared with DLB patients (p=0.001) . In PD, higher NfL levels correlated with hyposmia (p=0.01), total motor and non motor scores scores (0.001), gait speed (0.04) and several disability milestones, including cognitive impairment (0.001), symptomatic dysautonomia (0.001), loss of independency in activities of daily living (p=0.01) and instrumental daily living (p=0.001). In DLB, NfL correlated with disease duration, hyposmia and neuropsychiatric symptoms, but not with motor function.

Conclusion: Elevated serum NfL levels are associated with disability milestones in PD patients and neuropsychiatric abnormalities in DLB. Further longitudinal investigations are warranted in order to evaluate NfL as a predictive biomarker of disability progression in Lewy bodies disorders.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/serum-neurofilament-light-chain-levels-and-disability-milestones-in-lewy-body-diseases/