Elevated serum neurofilament light chain levels are associated with hepatic encephalopathy in patients with cirrhosis.
Metab Brain Dis
; 39(6): 1099-1108, 2024 Aug.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-38995495
ABSTRACT
Increasing evidences implicate vital role of neuronal damage in the development of hepatic encephalopathy (HE). Neurofilament light chain (NfL) is the main frame component of neurons and is closely related to axonal radial growth and neuronal structural stability. We hypothesized that NfL as a biomarker of axonal injury may contribute to early diagnosis of HE. This study recruited 101 patients with liver cirrhosis, 10 healthy individuals, and 7 patients with Parkinson's disease. Minimal hepatic encephalopathy (MHE) was diagnosed using psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score. Serum NfL levels were measured by the electrochemiluminescence immunoassay. Serum NfL levels in cirrhotic patients with MHE were significantly higher than cirrhotic patients without MHE, and increased accordingly with the aggravation of HE. Serum NfL levels were associated with psychometric hepatic encephalopathy score, Child-Pugh score, model for end-stage liver disease score, and days of hospitalization. Additionally, serum NfL was an independent predictor of MHE (odds ratio of 1.020 (95% CI 1.005-1.034); P = 0.007). The discriminative abilities of serum NfL were high for identifying MHE (AUC of 0.8134 (95% CI 0.7130-0.9219); P Ë 0.001) and OHE (AUC of 0.8852 (95% CI 0.8117-0.9587); P Ë 0.001). Elevated serum NfL levels correlated with the presence of MHE and associated with the severity of HE, are expected to be a biomarker in patients with cirrhosis. Our study suggested that neuronal damage may play a critical role in the development of HE.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Biomarkers
/
Hepatic Encephalopathy
/
Neurofilament Proteins
/
Liver Cirrhosis
Limits:
Adult
/
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
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Male
/
Middle aged
Language:
En
Journal:
Metab Brain Dis
Journal subject:
CEREBRO
/
METABOLISMO
Year:
2024
Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
China