Jakimovski Dejan, Bergsland Niels, Dwyer Michael G, Ramasamy Deepa P, Ramanathan Murali, Weinstock-Guttman Bianca, Zivadinov Robert
Buffalo Neuroimaging Analysis Center (BNAC), Department of Neurology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, NY 14203, USA.
IRCCS, Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi ONLUS, 20121 Milan, Italy.
Diagnostics (Basel). 2020 Sep 11;10(9):685. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics10090685.
Both perfusion-weighted imaging (PWI) measures and serum neurofilament light (sNfL) chain levels have been independently associated with disability in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients. This study aimed to determine whether these measures are correlated to each other or independently describe different MS processes. For this purpose, 3T MRI dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC)-PWI and single-molecule assay (Simoa)-based sNfL methods were utilized when investigating 86 MS patients. The perfusion measures of mean transit time (MTT), cerebral blood volume (CBV), and cerebral blood flow (CBF) were derived for the normal-appearing whole brain (NAWB), the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), the gray matter (GM), the deep GM (DGM), and the thalamus. The normalized CBV and CBF (nCBV and nCBV) were calculated by dividing by the corresponding NAWM measure. Age- and sex-adjusted linear regression models were used to determine associations between the DSC-PWI and sNfL results. False discovery rate (FDR)-adjusted -values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. A greater age and thalamic MTT were independently associated with higher sNfL levels ( < 0.001 and = 0.011) and explained 36.9% of sNfL level variance. NAWM MTT association with sNfL levels did not survive the FDR correction. In similar models, a lower thalamic nCBF and nCBV were both associated with greater sNfL levels ( < 0.001 and = 0.022), explaining 37.8% and 44.7% of the variance, respectively. In conclusion, higher sNfL levels were associated with lower thalamic perfusion.
灌注加权成像（PWI）测量值和血清神经丝轻链（sNfL）水平均与多发性硬化症（MS）患者的残疾独立相关。本研究旨在确定这些测量值是否相互关联，或者是否独立描述不同的MS进程。为此，在对86例MS患者进行研究时，采用了基于3T磁共振成像动态磁敏感对比（DSC）-PWI和单分子免疫检测技术（Simoa）的sNfL方法。计算正常表现全脑（NAWB）、正常表现白质（NAWM）、灰质（GM）、深部灰质（DGM）和丘脑的平均通过时间（MTT）、脑血容量（CBV）和脑血流量（CBF）等灌注测量值。通过除以相应的NAWM测量值来计算标准化CBV和CBF（nCBV和nCBF）。采用年龄和性别调整的线性回归模型来确定DSC-PWI和sNfL结果之间的关联。错误发现率（FDR）调整后的P值<0.05被认为具有统计学意义。年龄较大和丘脑MTT较长与较高的sNfL水平独立相关（P<0.001和P = 0.011），并解释了sNfL水平变异的36.9%。NAWM的MTT与sNfL水平的关联在FDR校正后未通过检验。在类似模型中，较低的丘脑nCBF和nCBV均与较高的sNfL水平相关（P<0.001和P = 0.022），分别解释了37.8%和44.7%的变异。总之，较高的sNfL水平与较低的丘脑灌注相关。
