6533b855fe1ef96bd12b00aa

RESEARCH PRODUCT

Cerebrospinal fluid tau protein is not a biological marker in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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Background:  Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disorder leading to progressive motor neuron cell death. Etiopathogenesis is still imperfectly known and much effort have been undertaken to find a biological marker that could help in the early diagnosis and in the monitoring of disease progression. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of tau, an axonal microtubule-associated protein, have been measured in ALS with levels found increased in some studies and unchanged in others. Methods:  Total CSF tau level was assayed in a population of ALS patients (n = 57) and controls (n = 110) using a specific ELISA method. Results:  No significant differences in the median CSF tau levels between ALS cases and controls were found [ALS: 126 pg/ml (78–222); controls: 112 pg/ml (71–188), P = ns]. In the ALS group, the bulbar-onset patients showed increased CSF tau levels as compared with the spinal-onset cases. These differences might be related to the higher age of the bulbar-onset patients. Further, no correlations were found between CSF tau concentrations and the rate of progression of the disease. Conclusions:  These results do not support the hypothesis that total CSF tau protein is a reliable biological marker for ALS.