Serum NfL associated with anti-NMDA receptor encephalitis

Neurofilament light chains (NfL) have been reported as potential markers for neuronal-axonal injury in neuroinflammatory diseases. In the current study, we describe serum NfL levels as a prognostic marker for anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis (NMDARE).Serum levels of NfL of 64 patients with anti-NMDARE and 84 healthy controls were measured by Simoa. The anti-NMDAR Encephalitis One-Year Functional Status (NEOS) score, Modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores, and clinical and cerebrospinal fluid parameters were evaluated in patients with anti-NMDARE. Meanwhile, we performed a receiver-operator characteristic analysis to assess the power of the serum NFL in predicting the 1-year functional status.Serum NfL levels were significantly elevated in patients with anti-NMDARE compared to healthy controls (p 0.001, pOur findings show that serum NfL levels evaluated in anti-NMDAR encephalitis may be a good predictor of the risk of 1-year poor functional status.