Serum Neurofilament Dynamics Predicts Cognitive Progression in de novo Parkinson's Disease

Neurofilament light (NfL) can reflect the extent of neuron/axon damage, thus providing an opportunity to examine the severity and progression of the diseases with such damage.

Whether serum NfL can be used as an indicator to monitor the cognitive progress of de novo Parkinson's disease (PD) remains unclear.

In this research, 144 healthy controls and 301 de novo PD patients from Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) were recruited. Linear mixed effects models were used to examine the associations of baseline/longitudinal serum NfL with cognitive decline. Cox regression was used to detect cognitive progression in PD participants.

We found PD patients had higher serum NfL than controls at baseline (p = 0.031), and NfL increase was faster in PD group (p < 0.001). Both baseline serum NfL and its rate of change predicted measurable cognitive decline in early PD (MoCA, β= -0.014, p < 0.001; β= -0.002, p < 0.001, respectively). Additionally, we observed that NfL levels were also able to predict progression in different diagnostic groups and Amyloid- PD and Amyloid+PD groups. After an average follow-up of 6.37±1.84 years, the baseline NfL of the third tertile of high concentrations was associated with a future high risk of PD dementia (adjusted HR 6.33, 95% CI 2.62-15.29, p < 0.001).

In conclusion, our results indicated that the serum NfL concentration could function as an easily accessible biomarker to monitor the severity and progression of cognitive decline in PD.