Increased CSF Soluble TREM2 Concentration in Patients With Neurosyphilis

Wurong Li; Haoxiao Chang; Wenqing Wu; Dongmei Xu; Meijuan Jiang; Junhua Gao; Yuming Huang; Yun Xu; Linlin Yin; Xinghu Zhang

doi:10.3389/fneur.2020.00062

Increased CSF Soluble TREM2 Concentration in Patients With Neurosyphilis

Front Neurol. 2020 Feb 5:11:62. doi: 10.3389/fneur.2020.00062. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Wurong Li^{1

2

3}, Haoxiao Chang^{2

3}, Wenqing Wu¹, Dongmei Xu¹, Meijuan Jiang¹, Junhua Gao¹, Yuming Huang¹, Yun Xu^{2

3}, Linlin Yin^{2

3}, Xinghu Zhang^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology, Beijing Ditan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
² Department of Neurology, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
³ China National Clinical Research Center for Neurological Diseases, Beijing, China.

Abstract

Objective: To explore cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2 (sTREM2) and neurofilament light proteins (NFL) in patients with neurosyphilis (NS). Methods: We enrolled 71 NS patients (41 early-NS and 30 late-NS patients) and 20 syphilis but non-NS patients whose CSF samples were collected. The CSF levels of the microglial activation biomarker sTREM2 and neuronal injury biomarker NFL were measured using ELISA. Results: CSF sTREM2 levels were significantly higher in NS patients compared to those in syphilis/non-NS patients (p < 0.001). In a subgroup analysis, the CSF sTREM2 levels elevated significantly in late-NS patients than those in early-NS patients (p < 0.001). The CSF sTREM2 levels in early-NS group were also significantly higher than those in syphilis/non-NS group (p = 0.024). Like CSF sTREM2, similar differences between groups were also found in CSF NFL. There was a moderate correlation between CSF sTREM2 and CSF NFL (r = 0.406, p < 0.001) in NS group. Conclusions: CSF sTREM2 levels elevated in NS and peaked at the late stage, suggesting that CSF sTREM2 may be a useful marker to quantify microglia activation in NS and may play a role in the progression of NS. The positive correlation between CSF sTREM2 and CSF NFL indicates a linkage between microglial activation and neuronal injury in NS.

Keywords: cerebrospinal fluid; microglia; neurofilament light proteins; neurosyphilis; soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells 2.