CSF or serum neurofilament light added to α‐Synuclein panel discriminates Parkinson's from controls

Background Neurofilament light chain is a marker of axonal damage and is of interest as a biofluid biomarker for PD. The objective of this study was to investigate whether CSF or serum neurofilament contributes to a combination of CSF biomarkers in defining the optimal biomarker panel for discriminating PD patients from healthy controls. In addition, we aimed to assess whether CSF and/or serum neurofilament levels are associated with clinical measures of disease severity. Methods We measured neurofilament light chain levels in CSF and/or serum of 139 PD patients and 52 age‐matched healthy controls. We used stepwise logistic regression analyses to test whether neurofilament contributes to a biomarker CSF panel including total, oligomeric, and phosphorylated α‐synuclein and Alzheimer's disease biomarkers. Measures of disease severity included disease duration, UPDRS‐III, Hoehn & Yahr stage, and MMSE. Results After correcting for age, CSF neurofilament levels were 42% higher in PD patients compared with controls (P