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Applications and Limitations of pNF-H, a Novel Biomarker for Spinal Cord Injury: Strategy for the Evaluation of Therapeutic Outcomes

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Neuroprotection and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord

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Abstract

The development of proper outcome measurements is as important as developing novel therapies. One of the characteristic issues in spinal cord injury (SCI) is the difficulty in severity evaluation at an early time point. In general, the assessment of tissue damage can be achieved by measurement of tissue-specific proteins released into peripheral blood. Phosphorylated neurofilament NF-H (pNF-H) is a cytoskeletal structural protein in neurons. In addition to its physiological function, pNF-H has been reported as a biomarker for axonal damage because of its stability within blood. In both rodent SCI models and human SCI patients, higher pNF-H values in blood correlate with more severe neural tissue damage. It would be possible to determine the severity of SCI by measuring blood pNF-H at either 24 or 96 h after injury. This better prognostic evaluation may reduce the number of required patients in clinical studies and facilitate the development of novel therapies for SCI.

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Conflict of Interest  Toru Ogata, Kentaro Hayakawa, and Hirotaka Chikuda declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, 4-1 Namiki, Tokorozawa, Saitama, 359-8555, Japan

    Toru Ogata

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongou, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Kentaro Hayakawa & Hirotaka Chikuda

Authors
  1. Toru Ogata
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  2. Kentaro Hayakawa
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  3. Hirotaka Chikuda
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Toru Ogata .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept of Orthop & Rehabilit Med, University of Fukui Faculty of Medical Sciences, Yoshida-gun, Fukui, Japan

    Kenzo Uchida

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Masaya Nakamura

  3. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan

    Hiroshi Ozawa

  4. Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Faculty of Medicine The University of Tokushima, Tokushima, Tokushima, Japan

    Shinsuke Katoh

  5. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Yoshiaki Toyama

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Ogata, T., Hayakawa, K., Chikuda, H. (2014). Applications and Limitations of pNF-H, a Novel Biomarker for Spinal Cord Injury: Strategy for the Evaluation of Therapeutic Outcomes. In: Uchida, K., Nakamura, M., Ozawa, H., Katoh, S., Toyama, Y. (eds) Neuroprotection and Regeneration of the Spinal Cord. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_26

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-54502-6_26

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Tokyo

  • Print ISBN: 978-4-431-54501-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-4-431-54502-6

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