Research progression of neurofilament light chain in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disease and the disease burden is increasing. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is a neuronal cytoplasmic protein highly expressed in large calibre myelinated axons which may serve as a biomarker for axonal damage. NfL is one of the most promising biomarkers to be used in clinical diagnosis and differential diagnosis of PD and it also plays an important role in predicting the severity and progression of PD and associated cognitive disorders. Besides, NfL combined imaging biomarkers also has high predictive value. This review provides an overview of the progress achieved thus far exploring the assicaiton between NfL in cerebrospinal fluid or blood, with a view to be providing help for clinical practice and follow⁃up studies.

Keywords

• parkinson disease
• neurofilament proteins
• biomarkers
• review