Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40958756›Full record

ArticleClinical chemistry and laboratory medicine2026

Measuring neurofilament light in human plasma and cerebrospinal fluid: a comparison of five analytical immunoassays.

Udit Sheth, Rebecca Harrison, Kyle Ferber, Erin G Rosenbaugh, Amanda Bevis, Rohini Khillan, Michael Benatar, Nicole L Bjorklund, Elena Di Daniel, Glenn A Harris and 6 more

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Clinical chemistry and laboratory medicine, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Review
  3. Review
  4. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

16 authors.

Udit ShethDepartment of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4360-7892
Rebecca HarrisonAstex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, UK.
Kyle FerberDepartment of Biostatistics, Biogen, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Erin G RosenbaughFoundation at the National Institute of Health Inc., North Bethesda, MD, USA.
Amanda BevisFoundation at the National Institute of Health Inc., North Bethesda, MD, USA.
Rohini KhillanFoundation at the National Institute of Health Inc., North Bethesda, MD, USA.
Michael BenatarDepartment of Neurology and ALS Center, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL, USA.
Nicole L BjorklundAssociation for Frontotemporal Degeneration, King of Prussia, PA, USA.
Elena Di DanielAstex Pharmaceuticals, Cambridge, UK.
Glenn A HarrisRainwater Charitable Foundation, Fort Worth, TX, USA.
Olga I KahnAlector, Inc., South San Francisco, CA, USA.
Yongge LiuOtsuka Pharmaceutical Development & Commercialization, Inc, Rockville, MD, USA.
Henrik ZetterbergDepartment of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, The Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Mölndal, Sweden.
Laura L MiticThe Bluefield Project to Cure Frontotemporal Dementia and the University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA.
Danielle GrahamDepartment of Biomarkers and Systems Biology, Biogen, Cambridge, MA, USA.
Tania F GendronDepartment of Neuroscience, Mayo Clinic, Jacksonville, FL, USA.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesNeurofilament light (NfL) is an established biofluid marker of neuroaxonal injury for neurological diseases. Several high-throughput and sensitive immunoassays have been developed to quantify NfL in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), facilitating the use of NfL as a biomarker in research and clinical practice. However, because of the lack of rigorous comparisons of assays, it has been difficult to determine whether data are comparable and whether assay performance differs. Here, we compared the performance of five NfL immunoassays.

methodsTo assess the five NfL immunoassays (Fujirebio, ProteinSimple, Quanterix, Roche and Siemens), we used pooled plasma or pooled CSF, as well as unique samples from 20 healthy controls and 20 individuals with El Escorial defined probable or definite amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), to evaluate precision, parallelism and/or bias. We also examined correlations between plasma and CSF NfL concentrations within and across assays and evaluated their ability to differentiate healthy controls from individuals with ALS.

resultsFour of the five assays demonstrated exemplary performance based on our analyses of precision and parallelism. Across the five assays, NfL concentrations were lower in plasma than in CSF, although they displayed a high degree of correlation. We noted bias across assays; plasma NfL concentrations were lowest for the Roche assay and highest for the ProteinSimple assay. In addition, all assays reliably distinguished healthy controls from individuals with ALS using plasma or CSF NfL.

conclusionsFour NfL assays demonstrated similar analytic performance. Alongside performance, other factors such as costs, accessibility, usability, footprint, and intended use, should be considered.

Indexed as

Neurofilament ProteinsAdultAgedAmyotrophic Lateral SclerosisBiomarkersFemaleHumansImmunoassayMaleMiddle AgedBiomarkersneurofilament protein LNeurofilament Proteinsamyotrophic lateral sclerosisbiomarkercerebrospinal fluidimmunoassaysneurofilament light chainplasma

Identifiers

PMID40958756

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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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.