Plasma Neurofilament Light and Future Declines in Cognition and Function in Alzheimer's Disease in the FIT-AD Trial.

BACKGROUND

Utilities of blood-based biomarkers in Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials remain unknown.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the ability of plasma neurofilament light chain (NfL) to predict future declines in cognition and activities of daily living (ADL) outcomes in 26 older adults with mild-to-moderate AD dementia from the FIT-AD Trial.

METHODS

Plasma NfL was measured at baseline and 3 and 6 months. Cognition and ADL were assessed using the AD Assessment Scale-Cognition (ADAS-Cog) and AD Uniform Dataset Instruments and Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD), respectively, at baseline, 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. Linear mixed effects models were used to examine the associations between baseline or change in plasma NfL and changes in outcomes.

RESULTS

Higher baseline plasma NfL was associated with greater rate of decline in ADAS-Cog from baseline to 6 months (standardized estimate of 0.00462,  = 0.02853) and in ADL from baseline to 12 months (standardized estimate of -0.00284,  = 0.03338). Greater increase in plasma NfL in short term from baseline to 3 months was associated with greater rate of decline in memory and ADL from 3 to 6 months (standardized estimate of -0.04638 [0.003],  = 0.01635; standardized estimate of -0.03818,  = 0.0435) and greater rate of decline in ADL from 3 to 12 month (standardized estimate of -0.01492,  = 0.01082).

CONCLUSION

This study demonstrated that plasma NfL might have the potential to predict cognitive and function decline up to 12 months. However, future studies with bigger sample sizes need to confirm the findings.