Trial reportJournal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry2019
Dimethyl fumarate decreases neurofilament light chain in CSF and blood of treatment naïve relapsing MS patients.
Trial report in Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 79 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
79 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- The role of serum neurofilament light (sNfL) as a biomarker in multiple sclerosis: insights from a systematic review.Journal of neurology · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Correlation between CSF and blood neurofilament light chain protein: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ neurology open · 2021Pooled it
- Neurofilament light chain (NfL) as a surrogate outcome measure for GM2 gangliosidoses.Journal of neurology · 2026Trial
- Real-World Safety and Effectiveness of Dimethyl Fumarate in Patients with MS: Results from the ESTEEM Phase 4 and PROCLAIM Phase 3 Studies with a Focus on Older Patients.Advances in therapy · 2025Trial
- Diroximel Fumarate in Patients with Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis: NEDA-3 After Re-Baselining in the Phase 3 EVOLVE-MS-1 Study.Advances in therapy · 2024Trial
- Plasma neurofilament light chain in children with relapsing MS receiving teriflunomide or placebo: A post hoc analysis of the randomized TERIKIDS trial.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2023Trial
- Plasma neurofilament light chain concentrations as a biomarker of clinical and radiologic outcomes in relapsing multiple sclerosis: Post hoc analysis of Phase 3 ozanimod trials.European journal of neurology · 2021Trial
- Temporal profile of serum neurofilament light in multiple sclerosis: Implications for patient monitoring.Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) · 2021Trial
- Dimethyl Fumarate Treatment in Patients With Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: A Randomized, Controlled Trial.Neurology(R) neuroimmunology & neuroinflammation · 2021Trial
- Fumarate and Its Esters: Physiology, Pathology, Molecular Mechanisms, Diseases, and Therapy.MedComm · 2026Review
- Fluid and Imaging Biomarkers in Huntington's Disease.Current neurology and neuroscience reports · 2026Review
- Effect of intrathecal injection of mesenchymal stem cell-neural progenitors on cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers in progressive multiple sclerosis.Stem cells translational medicine · 2026Article
- Neurofilament Light Chain in Cerebrospinal Fluid and Blood Identifies Patients With Minimal and Overt Hepatic Encephalopathy.Liver international : official journal of the International Association for the Study of the Liver · 2026Article
- Use of blood-based neurofilament light chain as an endpoint in clinical trials of neurodegenerative conditions: a scoping review.Journal of neurology · 2026Article
- Neurofilaments: A Promising Diagnostic and Prognostic Biomarker in Multiple Sclerosis.Annals of neurosciences · 2026Review
- Serum Neurofilament Light Chain and Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein as Differential Biomarkers of Response to Dimethyl Fumarate and Ocrelizumab in Multiple Sclerosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Neurofilament Biomarkers in Neurology: From Neuroinflammation to Neurodegeneration, Bridging Established and Novel Analytical Advances with Clinical Practice.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Cerebrospinal fluid levels of chitinase 3-like 1 and interleukin-6 can predict response to platform therapies in relapsing multiple sclerosis.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
- Evaluating finger-prick blood collection for remote quantification of neurofilament light in neurological diseases.Journal of neurology · 2025Article
19 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesIn a prospective phase IV trial of the first-line oral treatment dimethyl fumarate (DMF), we examined dynamics of neurofilament light (NFL) chain in serum, plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected over 12 months from relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) patients. NFL changes were related to disease activity.
methodsWe examined NFL levels by single-molecule array in 88 CSF, 348 plasma and 131 sera from treatment-naïve RRMS patients (n=52), healthy controls (n=23) and a placebo group matched by age, sex and NFL (n=52). Plasma/sera were collected at baseline, and 1, 3, 6 and 12 months after DMF. CSF samples were collected at baseline and 12 months after DMF.
resultsNFL concentration in CSF, plasma and serum correlated highly (p<0.0001 for all), but plasma levels were only 76.9% of paired serum concentration. After 12 months of DMF treatment, NFL concentration decreased by 73%, 69% and 55% in the CSF, serum and plasma (p<0.0001, respectively). Significant reduction in blood was observed after 6 and 12 months treatment compared with baseline (p<0.01 and p<0.0001, respectively) and to placebo (p<0.0001). Patients with NFL above the 807.5 pg/mL cut-off in CSF had 5.0-times relative risk of disease activity (p<0.001).
conclusionsThis study provides Class II evidence that first-line DMF reduces NFL in both blood and CSF after 6 months and normalises CSF levels in 73% of patients. High NFL concentration in CSF after a year reflected disease activity. NFL levels were higher in serum than in plasma, which should be considered when NFL is used as a biomarker.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.