THE ROLE OF SERUM NFL AND INFLAMMATORY CYTOKINES IN THE EARLY RECOGNITION OF ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE

Abstract Background Previous studies have found that blood neuroflament light chain protein(NfL) is associated with the assessment of cognitive function, and decreased cognitive function is associated with higher levels of circulating inflammation. However, the intrinsic association between blood NfL levels and inflammatory cytokines and cognitive function is not clear. Aims & Objectives The purpose of this study is to explore the role of serum NfL and inflammatory cytokines in the early recognition of Alzheimer's disease(AD), and explore the relationship between serum NfL and inflammatory cytokines. Method A total of 157 subjects aged 55 years above were recruited from the community and divided by cognitive function into three groups. Cognitive assessment and serum samples were collected by trained psychiatrists, and concentrations of neurofilament light chains, inflammatory factors and other pathological markers of AD were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The correlation between cognitive function, NfL, inflammatory factors and other pathological markers of AD was analyzed, and the ability to recognize MCI was explored. Counting data were compared by Chi-square test. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) was analyzed for the concentration of various cognitive scales and blood indicators of the subjects, and the area under the curve (AUC) was calculated to evaluate the diagnostic performance with sensitivity and specificity. Results 1. The level of serum NfL in MCI population and probably AD population was higher than that in healthy control group(F=7.582,P=0.023); 2. Serum NfL content was positively correlated with inflammatory cytokines IL-1β and IL-6 and Aβ40, and the correlation coefficients were 0.471,0.269 and 0.386, respectively;3. The combination of serum NfL with p-tau217 and Boston naming test significantly improved the accuracy of MCI prediction, the areas under the curve were 0.687 and 0.742, respectively. But the combination of serum NfL with inflammatory factors did not improve the accuracy of MCI prediction. Discussion & Conclusion This study found that serum NfL content is related to cognition and inflammatory factors, which can help early identification of MCI population, indicating that NfL can be an early identification of Alzheimer's disease peripheral blood biomarker, and hopefully provide a new concept for the treatment of Alzheimer's disease.