Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin (SHBG) in Cerebrospinal Fluid Does Not Discriminate between the Main FTLD Pathological Subtypes but Correlates with Cognitive Decline in FTLD Tauopathies.

Biomarkers to discriminate the main pathologies underlying frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD-Tau, FTLD-TDP) are lacking. Our previous FTLD cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) proteome study revealed that sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) was specifically increased in FTLD-Tau patients. Here we investigated the potential of CSF SHBG as a novel biomarker discriminating the main FTLD pathological subtypes.

Serum Neurofilament Light Association With Progression in Natalizumab-Treated Patients With Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.

Background And Objectives: To investigate the potential of serum neurofilament light (NfL) to reflect or predict progression mostly independent of acute inflammatory disease activity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) treated with natalizumab.

Methods: Patients were selected from a prospective observational cohort study initiated in 2006 at the VU University Medical Center Amsterdam, the Netherlands, including patients with RRMS treated with natalizumab. Selection criteria included an age of 18 years or older and a minimum follow-up of 3 years from natalizumab initiation.

Multicenter Analytical Validation of Aβ40 Immunoassays.

Background: Before implementation in clinical practice, biomarker assays need to be thoroughly analytically validated. There is currently a strong interest in implementation of the ratio of amyloid-β peptide 1-42 and 1-40 (Aβ42/Aβ40) in clinical routine. Therefore, in this study, we compared the analytical performance of six assays detecting Aβ40 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in six laboratories according to a recently standard operating procedure (SOP) developed for implementation of ELISA assays for clinical routine.

Facilitating the Validation of Novel Protein Biomarkers for Dementia: An Optimal Workflow for the Development of Sandwich Immunoassays.

Different neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal dementia (FTD), lead to dementia syndromes. Dementia will pose a huge impact on society and thus it is essential to develop novel tools that are able to detect the earliest, most sensitive, discriminative, and dynamic biomarkers for each of the disorders. To date, the most common assays used in large-scale protein biomarker analysis are enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA), such as the sandwich immunoassays, which are sensitive, practical, and easily implemented.

Immunohistochemical characterization of novel monoclonal antibodies against the N-terminus of amyloid β-peptide.

Abstract Amyloid β-peptide (Aβ) is a key molecule in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Reliable immunohistochemical (IHC) methods to detect Aβ and Aβ-associated factors (AAF) in brain specimens are needed to determine their role in AD pathophysiology. Formic acid (FA) pre-treatment, which is generally used to enable efficient detection of Aβ with IHC, induces structural modifications within the Aβ, as well as in AAF.

Neurofilament ELISA validation.

Background: Neurofilament proteins (Nf) are highly specific biomarkers for neuronal death and axonal degeneration. As these markers become more widely used, an inter-laboratory validation study is required to identify assay criteria for high quality performance.

Methods: The UmanDiagnostics NF-light (R)enzyme-linked immunoabsorbent assays (ELISA) for the neurofilament light chain (NfL, 68kDa) was used to test the intra-assay and inter-laboratory coefficient of variation (CV) between 35 laboratories worldwide on 15 cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples.

Quantification of amyloid-beta 40 in cerebrospinal fluid.

Background: Truncated forms and full-length forms of the amyloid-beta 40 (Abeta40) are key molecules in the pathogenesis of dementia, and are detectable in CSF. Reliable methods to detect these biomarkers in CSF are of great importance for understanding the disease mechanisms and for diagnostic purposes.

Methods: VU-alpha-Abeta40, a monoclonal antibody (mAb) specifically detecting Abeta40, was generated and characterized by solid and fluid phase ELISA, surface plasmon resonance spectroscopy (SPRS), immunoprecipitation (IP), immunohistochemical and Western blot (WB) analysis.