• Pavlína Kušnierová, David Zeman, Pavel Hradílek, Martin Čábal, and Olga Zapletalová.
• Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Institute of Laboratory Diagnostics, University Hospital Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic.
• J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 2019 Sep 1; 33 (7): e22948.

BackgroundNeurofilaments are the major cytoskeletal components of neurons, and cell injury leads to their release into the surrounding area. The aim of this study was to compare the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum (S) concentrations of neurofilament light chains (NFLs) and phosphorylated neurofilament heavy chains (pNFHs).MethodsNeurofilament concentrations were measured in CSF and S samples from 172 patients using three enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Excel, Stata version 13, MedCal version 17.9.7., and NCSS 2007 software were used for the statistical analysis.ResultsThere was a statistically significant correlation between the concentrations of CSF NFL and CSF pNFH (rs  = 0.748; n = 89; P < 0.001), but Passing-Bablok regression showed systematic deviation between the values obtained using the two assays. This indicates that the assays were not interchangeable. CSF pNFH and S pNFH concentrations showed low correlation. The kappa statistic showed moderate conformity between CSF pNFH and CSF NFL concentrations (κ = 0.556).ConclusionsThe CSF NFL and CSF pNFH assays gave clinically consistent results that reflected the degree of axonal damage, independent of any particular neurological diagnosis. The S pNFH assays had a lower predictive value due to the low correlation coefficient and the kappa index of the CSF pNFH method.© 2019 The Authors. Journal of Clinical Laboratory Analysis Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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