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58 views9 pages

Articol

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Gabriel Danea
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Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers and cognitive functions at multiple sclerosis diagnosis Eleonora Virgilio'?°@ - Domizia Vecchio" Ilaria Crespi®- Chiara Puricelli. Paolo Barbero! - Giulia Galli'- Roberto Cantello! - Umberto Dianzani*5 -Cristoforo Comi™* Received: 28 November 2021 /Revised:21 December 2021 / Accepted: 22 December 2021 (©The Author(s), under exclusive cence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany 2021 Abstract Cognitive impairment (CI) isa frequent and disabling symptom in Multiple Sclerosis (MS). Axonal damage may contribute to CI development from early stages. Nevertheless, no biomarkers ae at the moment availabe to track CI in MS patients. We aimed to explore the correlation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) axonal biomarkers in particular: light-chain neurofilaments (NFL), Tau, and Beta-amyloid protein (Abeta) in MS patients with CI at the diagnosis. 62 newly diagnosed MS patients were enrolled, and cognition was evaluated using the Brief International Cognitive Assessment for MS (BICAMS) battery CSE NL, Abeta, and Tau levels were determined with commercial ELISA. Patients with CI (45.1%) did not differ for demographic, clinical, and MRI characteristics (except for lower educational level) but they displayed greater neurodegen- eration, exhibiting higher mean CSF Tau protein (162.1 3:52.96 pg/ml versus 132.2 + 63.86 pg/ml p:0.03). No differences were observed for Abeta and NEL. The number of impaired tests and Tau were significantly correlated (70.32 p:0.01). Tau was higher in particular in patients with slowed information processing speed (IPS) (p:0.006) and a linear regression analysis accounting for EDSS, MRI, and MS subtype confirmed Tau as a weak predictor of IPS and cognitive impairment. In conclusion, CI has an important burden on the quality of life of MS patients and should be looked for even at diagnosis. ‘Axonal damage biomarkers, and in particular Tau, seem to reflect cognition impairment in the early tages. Keywords Multiple sclerosis - Biomarker - Cognition - Neurodegeneration - Tau - Neurofilaments Introduction Cognitive impairment (CI) isa frequent and disabling fa- ture in Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patents (1), Since cogni- tive deterioration may have a subtle and slow evolution over time, in the pas, cognition was often not investigated until advanced diseases stages, particularly in progressive MS subtypes (2. In contrast, CI involves information processing Maggiore Della Cari Hospital, Unversity of aemonts speed, episodic memory, and fluney with high prevalence Orientale, Corso Mazzini 18, 28100 Novara, Italy even in early disease stages [3]. Therefore, screening at MS 2 diagnosis is recommended even in absence of patient com- Eleonora Virgilio Virglioeleonora88@ pmail.com Department of Translational Medicine, Nevrology Unit, Pd Program in Medical Sciences and Biotechnologies, Department of Translational Medicine, University ‘of Piemonte Orienale, Novara aly > Department of Translational Medicine, Neurology Unit S. Andrea Hospital, University of Premonte Oriental, Vercelli aly Department of Health Sciences, Intendisciplinary Reseach Center of Autoimmune Diseases (IRCAD). University ‘of Piemonte Oriental, Novara, al 5 Department of Health Univesity of Piemon ces, Clinical Biochemistry ‘Oriental, Novara, Kay Published online: 28 January 2022 plain {1~1]. Cognition may be evaluated with different neu- ropsychological test batteries in clinical practice. For the MS population, the most common test batteries are the Rao Brief Repeatable Battery (RBRB) which explores verbal learning and delayed recall, visuospatial learning and delayed recall, IPS, and verbal fluency on semantic input. Administration of RBRB takes about 45 min (5, 6]. The MACFIMS (Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS) battery explores, in 90 min, language, spatial processing, verbal memory and © singer Journal of Neurology visuospatial memory, information processing speed, and executive functions using seven tests (6, 7]. Finally, the BICAMS (Brief International Cognitive Assessment in MS) test battery is recommended as an international, validated, ‘and standardized brief cognitive evaluating information pro- cessing speed, verbal memory, and visuospatial memory [1, 8]. The BICAMS test battery only takes 15 min and is, there fore, feasible in clinical practice [6] In MS, the precise mechanisms of CI are still to be ree- ‘ognized but growing evidence suggested that both inflam- mation and neurodegeneration have a substantial role. MS is an inflammatory disease with focal inflammation due to lymphocytes infiltration in both the white and grey matter of CNS [9]. MRI studies highlighted that a disconnection syndrome resulting from white and grey matter focal inflam- mation may represent a key mechanism underlying CI (9, 10}, but most attention has been directed to the role played by the neuronal and axonal loss [11, 12]. Axonal damage may result in both global brain and spinal cord atrophy as well as focal cortical (e.g. temporal lobe) and subcortical (eg. thalamus) atrophy [9]. Since patients display variable levels of inflammation and neurodegeneration, the presence ‘of specific soluble biomarkers capable to mark and/or pre- dict the development of CI would be extremely useful to the clinician. No specific soluble biomarkers are available for Cl in MS, whereas cerebrospinal (CSF) Tau and Beta- amyloid (Abeta) are routinely used in other neurodegenera- tive diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. In MS, high levels ‘of CSF Tau and Abeta seem to mark high neurodegenera- tion and poor prognosis [13], but only one study described ‘a correlation of CSF Abeta levels with CI [14]. Moreover, (CSF and serum neurofilaments light-chain (NFL) have been extensively investigated in MS as a marker of axonal damage following acute inflammation (high correlation with gadolin- ium-enhancing lesions and relapses), as well as brain volume Joss [15] and treatment response, but litle is known about its ability to trace Cl {11, 16-23]. Only a few reports involving small cohorts of patients reported a possible association of high levels of NFL with Cl, but results were not consistent U1, 16-23}. Our study aims to investigate the correlation of CSF NFL, Tau, and Abeta protein levels with Clin MS patients at diagnosis, Materials and methods Study population and CSF collection We enrolled 62 consecutive newly diagnosed MS patients in our Center (AOU Maggiore della Caritt—Novara). We included patients who underwent lumbar puncture per- formed on the suspicion of MS as part of the usual diagnostic 2) coeinnee ‘workup from January 2015 to December 2020, Time at lum- bar puncture was considered our baseline and inclusion cr teria were: diagnosis of MS according to Mc Donald Criteria, 2010 o 2017 revision [24, 25}, age> 18 years old, signed informed consent for both diagnostic and research purpose at the moment of lumbar puncture, and presence of a cogni- tive evaluation not later than 1 month from baseline. We excluded patients with a history of alcohol, drug abuse, and behavioral or psychiatric diseases, patients with exposure to immunosuppressive, immunomodulant treatments before or at the moment of the baseline, and none of the patients was under steroids at the moment of lumbar puncture or cogni- tive evaluation, We collected clinical-demographic data such. as gender, age of onset, age at diagnosis, MS phenotype, and. expanded disability status score at diagnosis (EDSS). Brain and spinal MRI was performed within 3 months before or following baseline, according to Italian guidelines [26]. We recorded T2 white matter lesion load with a cut-off of ten lesions to define high and low lesion load [27], the presence ‘or absence of spinal lesions, and the presence or absence of ‘gadolinium-enhancing (gd-+) lesions. CSF analysis and biomarkers determination (CSF was obtained via LP and after centrifugation at $000 r/ min for 10 min and supernatants were aliquoted in poly- propylene tubes. Samples were stored at—80 °C until use AS part of the diagnostic MS procedure, every patient was tested for cell counts, glucose, and protein CSF concentra- tion, oligoclonal bands detection via isoelectrofocusing (Sebia), albumin, IgG Index, and kappa free light chain index via nephelometry [28-30]. CSF Abeta and total Tau and NFL were measured using three commercially available sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) kits: (i) INNOTEST® beta-AMYLOID 1-42 kit (Fujirebio Diagnostics, Ghent, Belgium) which has a calibrator range (CR) between 62.5 and 4000 pg/mL. and low detection limit (LL0Q) of 65 pg/ml; (ii) INNOTEST® HTAU antigen kit (Fujirebio Diagnostics, Ghent, Belgium) which measures the six tau isoforms from 352 to 441 amino acids and has a LLoQ of 34 pg/ml and CR of 50-2500 pg/ml; (ii) NF- 1t® ELISA kit (UmanDiagnostics AB, Umed, Sweden) with a CR between 100 and 1000 pg/ml and a LLoQ of 32 pg/ml and a variability intra-measurement inter-m« ‘urements below 10%. Duplicate testings requiring 25 mlx2 ‘were performed for both kits. CSF samples were analyzed by board-certified laboratory technicians, blinded to clini- cal data and all experiments were performed according to ‘manufacturers’ instructions. CSF Abeta under 500 pg/ml are considered pathological independently from age, whereas ‘Tau levels over 300 pg/ml were considered pathological in subjects under 50 years old. Journal of Newology Cognitive evaluation ‘The Beck Depression Inventory was used to screen patients for depression. Patients with total scores of > 14 were ‘excluded from the final analysis [31]. Then, the BICAMS test battery was performed by the same neurologist admin- trating the three subsequent tests: the Symbol digit Modali ties Test (SDMT) as a measure of information processing speed, the California Verbal Learning Test-2 (CVLT2) as a measure of verbal memory, and the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test-Revised (BVMT-R) for visuospatial memory. According to the Italian normative values, raw scores were corrected for educational level, age, and gender. Regression- based T scores and z scores were thus obtained [8]. A com- posite T score and z score were also calculated as the mean of the three single normalized scores of the patient. The presence of a specific cognitive domain impairment was defined by the failure of the corresponding test (T score <35 and z score <-1.5) [8]. Overall CI was defined by the pres- ‘ence of impairment in at least one out of three tests and/ ‘or the presence of the composite corrected score below the cut-off. Data availability and statistical analysis Upon CSF sampling, patients gave written consent to CSF storage for research purposes. The study was conducted in accordance with the declaration of Helsinki guidelines and approved by the ethical committee of the University Hospital of Novara. Collected data were used to produce a pseudonymized dataset, available under reasonable request to the corresponding author. Statistical analysis was pe formed using SPSS 25.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA) and Graphpad Prism 9 for Windows (Graphpad Sofiware, La Jolla, CA, USA). We checked the normality distribution of data with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov Test and Shapiro-Wilk Test. We presented categorical data with ‘median, range, and interquartile range (IQR), proportions as numbers and percentages, and continuous data with ‘mean and standard deviation (SD). Mann-Whitney U test and Kruskal-Wallis test were used for comparison between ‘continuous variables; Chi-Squared test and Fisher test for categorical variables. Bonferroni correction was applied when appropriate for multiple comparison analysis. Spear- ‘man’s rank correlation coefficient test was used for the cor- relation between continuous variables and partial correlation with correction for EDSS and MRI status. Linear regression analyses including EDSS, type of MS, and MRI characteris tics at baseline as independent variables and BICAMS nor- ‘malized scores as dependent variables were run to identify the best predictors of CI. All tests were two-sided and the significance threshold was set to p <0.08. Results Patient characteristics ‘The majority of patients were female with relapsing-rei ting (RR) disease course (96.8%). The mean age at diag- nosis was 39.1 £ 11.2 years, median EDSS was 1520.8, and 38.7% showed at least one gd+lesion. In the whole cohort, mean CSF Tau, Abeta and NFL concentrations were 145.69 + 50.58 pg/mL, 647.82 4283.52 pg/mL, 2248.88 + 2230.07 pg/mL, respectively. The main demo- graphic and clinical characteristics are summarized in Table 1, whereas results from BICAMS are reported in Table 2. Information processing speed and verbal mem- ory were impaired in 15/62 patients (24%) showing T score $35, and 28/62 (45.1%) patients showed CI (at least impairment in 1 test). Moreover, 11/62 patients (17.7%) dis- played impairment in the composite score (11/62, 17.7%) indicating a variability in each patient between differ- cent domains Patients with or without CI did not differ for Table 1 Demographic, clinical, MRI characterises, and CSF mean levels of biomarkers ofthe study population (N62) Demographic characteristics ‘Age at onset (ys); mean 8D 36432999 ‘Age a diagnosis (ts): mean: SD 39.16 1122 Female m.(%) 41, 66.1%) Eadcational level (ys) means SD 12912334 EDSS; mean SD (median; range) 15208(15;0-4) MS type ns) RR 60, 96.85 pp 232% ‘Cinical characteristics at onset (n; %) Sensory/pyramidal syndrome 23:372% Brainstenvcerebellar syndrome 19; 3065 Optic neuritis 10; 16.1% Myeitis 8: 129% Progressive course 2% [MRI characteristics (n; 5) >9°T2 brain lesions 41,6616 <9 T2 bra lesions 213396 Ga+esions 24, 38.7% Spinal lesions 3.004% ‘Biomarker (mean + SD) CSF Tau pp/at 145.69:50:58 (CSF Abeta pom (64782 £283.52 (CSE NFL pe/ml 2248.88 + 2230.07 Abeta beta amyloid, CSF cerebrospinal uid, EDSS expanded disabil ity status score, G+ gadolinium enhancing, NFL neurofilament chain, RR relapsing remit progressive, yrs years Journal of Newrology Table2 Neuropsycholopical results atthe BICAMS evaluation Cognitive domain Test Raw score (mean:SD) _=score (mean SD) score (meanxSD) Score

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