Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in Blood as a Disease Biomarker of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders

Hyunjin Kim; Eun-Jae Lee; Young-Min Lim; Kwang-Kuk Kim

doi:10.3389/fneur.2022.865730

Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in Blood as a Disease Biomarker of Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorders

Front Neurol. 2022 Mar 17:13:865730. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2022.865730. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Hyunjin Kim¹, Eun-Jae Lee^{1

2}, Young-Min Lim¹, Kwang-Kuk Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
² Department of Medicine, Asan Medical Institute of Convergence Science and Technology, Seoul, South Korea.

Abstract

Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is a type III intermediate filament protein found in astrocytes in the brain. Damaged astrocytes release GFAP into cerebrospinal fluid and blood. Thus, GFAP levels in these body fluids may reflect the disease state of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD), which includes astrocytopathy, characterized by pathogenic antibodies against aquaporin 4 located on astrocytes. Recently, single-molecule array technology that can detect these synaptic proteins in blood, even in the subfemtomolar range, has been developed. Emerging evidence suggests that GFAP protein is a strong biomarker candidate for NMOSD. This mini-review provides basic information about GFAP protein and innovative clinical data that show the potential clinical value of blood GFAP levels as a biomarker for NMOSD.

Keywords: GFAP; NMOSD; anti-aquaporin-4 antibodies; biomarker; blood; glial fibrillary acidic protein; neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

Publication types

Review