JNNP: GFAP as a biomarker for frontotemporal dementia and primary mental illness: diagnosis and prognostic performance

The heterogeneous clinicopathology of frontotemporal degeneration (FTLD) includes a large group of progressive neurodegenerative diseases, among which behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) and primary progressive aphasia (PPA) are the main ones Clinical subtype
.

The most common genetic cause of FTLD is the amplification of the hexanucleotide repeat of C9orf72 and the mutation of GRN and MAPT genes

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a filamentous protein expressed in astrocytes of the central nervous system
.

The high level of GFAP in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) or blood is related to the excessive activation and degeneration of astrocytes, and is considered to be a marker of astrocyte death, astrocyte proliferation, and brain glial cell degeneration

In this study, the purpose is to compare the levels of GFAP (sGFAP) in serum and GFAP (bGFAP) in whole blood in a group of patients with heterogeneous neuropsychiatric and cognitive impairment caused by FTLD or PPD and a healthy control group

Correlation between sGFAP level and atrophy rate in patients with FTLD

Compared with the PPD group or the control group, the sGFAP and bGFAP levels in the FTLD group increased
.

Analysis of working characteristics shows that FTLD and PPD have good diagnostic performance (area under the curve (AUC)=0.

Survival rate after blood sampling

sGFAP can distinguish between FTLD and PPD patients, and is related to the shortened survival period of FTLD patients and the increase in the rate of severe brain atrophy
.

The results show that blood-based GFAP is a minimally invasive and meaningful biomarker in the differential diagnosis of FTLD and PPD patients, as well as the assessment of disease progression and astrocyte proliferation in FTLD

Blood-based GFAP is a minimally invasive and meaningful biomarker in the differential diagnosis of patients with FTLD and PPD, as well as the assessment of disease progression and astrogliosis in FTLD
.
KatiskoK ,CajanusA ,HuberN KatiskoK Katisko CajanusA Cajanus HuberN Huber , et al GFAP as a biomarker in frontotemporal dementia and primary psychiatric disorders: diagnostic and prognostic performance Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & PsychiatryPublished Online First:29 June 2021 .
  Published Online First: doi:  10.
1136/jnnp-2021-326487 doi: leave a message here