This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.
Abstract
Background and Objectives To investigate the potential of serum neurofilament light (NfL) to reflect or predict progression mostly independent of acute inflammatory disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) treated with natalizumab.
Methods Patients were selected from a prospective observational cohort study initiated in 2006 at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, the Netherlands, including patients with RRMS treated with natalizumab. Selection criteria included an age of 18 years or older and a minimum follow-up of 3 years from natalizumab initiation. Clinical and MRI assessments were performed on a yearly basis, and serum NfL was measured at 5 time points during the follow-up, including on the day of natalizumab initiation (baseline), 3 months, 1 year, and 2 years after natalizumab initiation, and on last follow-up visit. Using general linear regression models, we compared the longitudinal dynamics of NfL between patients with and without confirmed Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) progression between year 1 visit and last follow-up, and between individuals with and without EDSS+ progression, a composite endpoint including the EDSS, 9-hole peg test, and timed 25-foot walk.
Results Eighty-nine natalizumab-treated patients with RRMS were included. Median follow-up time was 5.2 years (interquartile range [IQR] 4.3–6.7, range 3.0–11.0) after natalizumab initiation, mean age at time of natalizumab initiation was 36.9 years (SD 8.5), and median disease duration was 7.4 years (IQR 3.8–12.1). Between year 1 and the last follow-up, 28/89 (31.5%) individuals showed confirmed EDSS progression. Data for the EDSS+ endpoint was available for 73 out of the 89 patients and 35/73 (47.9%) showed confirmed EDSS+ progression. We observed a significant reduction in NfL levels 3 months after natalizumab initiation, which reached its nadir of close to 50% of baseline levels 1 year after treatment initiation. We found no difference in the longitudinal dynamics of NfL in progressors vs nonprogressors. NfL levels at baseline and 1 year after natalizumab initiation did not predict progression at last follow-up.
Conclusion In our cohort of natalizumab-treated patients with RRMS, NfL fails to capture or predict progression that occurs largely independently of clinical or radiologic signs of acute focal inflammatory disease activity. Additional biomarkers may thus be needed to monitor progression in these patients.
Classification of Evidence This study provides Class II evidence that serum NfL levels are not associated with disease progression in natalizumab-treated patients with RRMS.
Glossary
- 9HT=
- 9-hole peg test;
- DMT=
- disease-modifying therapy;
- E+NP=
- EDSS+ nonprogressors;
- E+P=
- EDSS+ progressors;
- EDSS=
- Expanded Disability Status Scale;
- EDSS+=
- a composite endpoint including the Expanded Disability Status Scale, the 9-hole peg test, and the timed 25-foot walk test;
- ENP=
- EDSS nonprogressors;
- EP=
- EDSS progressors;
- GE=
- gadolinium-enhancing;
- IQR=
- interquartile range;
- MS=
- multiple sclerosis;
- NfL=
- neurofilament light;
- RRMS=
- relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis;
- SPMS=
- secondary progressive multiple sclerosis;
- T25W=
- timed 25-foot walk test
Footnotes
Go to Neurology.org/N for full disclosures. Funding information and disclosures deemed relevant by the authors, if any, are provided at the end of the article.
Class of Evidence: NPub.org/coe
CME Course: NPub.org/cmelist
Editorial, page 887
- Received December 16, 2020.
- Accepted in final form July 26, 2021.
- © 2021 American Academy of Neurology
AAN Members
We have changed the login procedure to improve access between AAN.com and the Neurology journals. If you are experiencing issues, please log out of AAN.com and clear history and cookies. (For instructions by browser, please click the instruction pages below). After clearing, choose preferred Journal and select login for AAN Members. You will be redirected to a login page where you can log in with your AAN ID number and password. When you are returned to the Journal, your name should appear at the top right of the page.
AAN Non-Member Subscribers
Purchase access
Letters: Rapid online correspondence
- Author Response: Serum Neurofilament Light Association With Progression in Natalizumab-Treated Patients With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis
- Reader Response: Serum Neurofilament Light Association With Progression in Natalizumab-Treated Patients With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis
REQUIREMENTS
You must ensure that your Disclosures have been updated within the previous six months. Please go to our Submission Site to add or update your Disclosure information.
Your co-authors must send a completed Publishing Agreement Form to Neurology Staff (not necessary for the lead/corresponding author as the form below will suffice) before you upload your comment.
If you are responding to a comment that was written about an article you originally authored:
You (and co-authors) do not need to fill out forms or check disclosures as author forms are still valid
and apply to letter.
Submission specifications:
- Submissions must be < 200 words with < 5 references. Reference 1 must be the article on which you are commenting.
- Submissions should not have more than 5 authors. (Exception: original author replies can include all original authors of the article)
- Submit only on articles published within 6 months of issue date.
- Do not be redundant. Read any comments already posted on the article prior to submission.
- Submitted comments are subject to editing and editor review prior to posting.
You May Also be Interested in
More Online
Costs and Utilization of New-to-Market Neurologic Medications
Dr. Robert J. Fox and Dr. Mandy Leonard