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Serum neurofilament light chain (sNfL) levels have been proposed as a biomarker of the clinical activity, disability progression, and response to treatment of people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS); however, questions remain about its implementation in clinical practice. Ocrelizumab (OCR) has proven effective in improving clinical and radiological outcomes and reducing sNfL levels. This real-life study followed the sNfL levels of 30 PwMS treated for 12 months with OCR and evaluated the usefulness of this biomarker for their short-term prognosis, considering expanded disability status scale (EDSS), annualized relapse rate (ARR), radiological activity, and NEDA-3 values. OCR reduced ARR in 83% of PwMS and radiological activity in 80%. EDSS was maintained, while NEDA-3 was achieved in 70% at 12 months. OCR produced an early reduction in sNfL levels (at 3 months). At baseline, greater MRI-evaluated radiological activity was associated with higher sNfL levels. sNfL levels over the first 12 months of treatment did not predict a suboptimal response or sustained control of the disease. Longer-term studies are needed to explore the predictive usefulness of sNfL levels in PwMS treated with high-efficacy drugs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: To study the clinical and laboratory features of antineurofascin-155 (NF155)-positive autoimmune nodopathy (AN)., Methods: Patients with anti-NF155 antibodies detected on routine immunologic testing were included. Clinical characteristics, treatment response, and functional scales (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] and Inflammatory Rasch-built Overall Disability Scale [I-RODS]) were retrospectively collected at baseline and at the follow-up. Autoantibody and neurofilament light (NfL) chain levels were analyzed at baseline and at the follow-up., Results: Forty NF155+ patients with AN were included. Mean age at onset was 42.4 years. Patients presented with a progressive (75%), sensory motor (87.5%), and symmetric distal-predominant weakness in upper (97.2%) and lower extremities (94.5%), with tremor and ataxia (75%). Patients received a median of 3 (2-4) different treatments in 46 months of median follow-up. Response to IV immunoglobulin (86.8%) or steroids (72.2%) was poor in most patients, whereas 77.3% responded to rituximab. HLA-DRB1*15 was detected in 91.3% of patients. IgG4 anti-NF155 antibodies were predominant in all patients; anti-NF155 titers correlated with mRS within the same patient ( r = 0.41, p = 0.004). Serum NfL (sNfL) levels were higher in anti-NF155+ AN than in healthy controls (36.47 vs 7.56 pg/mL, p < 0.001) and correlated with anti-NF155 titers ( r = 0.43, p = 0.001), with I-RODS at baseline ( r = -0.88, p < 0.001) and with maximum I-RODS achieved ( r = -0.58, p = 0.01). Anti-NF155 titers and sNfL levels decreased in all rituximab-treated patients., Discussion: Anti-NF155 AN presents a distinct clinical profile and good response to rituximab. Autoantibody titers and sNfL are useful to monitor disease status in these patients. The use of untagged-NF155 plasmids minimizes the detection of false anti-NF155+ cases., Classification of Evidence: This study provides Class IV evidence that anti-NF155 antibodies associate with a specific phenotype and response to rituximab., (Copyright © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the American Academy of Neurology.)