{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T08:46:46Z","timestamp":1785833206004,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":46,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,16]],"date-time":"2021-12-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1639612800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004196","name":"Odense Universitetshospital","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004196","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100006356","name":"Syddansk Universitet","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100006356","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Immunol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec><jats:title>Background and Objectives<\/jats:title><jats:p>The two most common autoimmune encephalitides (AE), <jats:italic>N<\/jats:italic>-methyl-D-Aspartate receptor (NMDAR) and Leucine-rich Glioma-Inactivated 1 (LGI1) encephalitis, have been known for more than a decade. Nevertheless, no well-established biomarkers to guide treatment or estimate prognosis exist. Neurofilament light chain (NfL) has become an unspecific screening marker of axonal damage in CNS diseases, and has proven useful as a diagnostic and disease activity marker in neuroinflammatory diseases. Only limited reports on NfL in AE exist. We investigated NfL levels at diagnosis and follow-up in NMDAR and LGI1-AE patients, and evaluated the utility of CSF-NfL as a biomarker in AE.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title><jats:p>Patients were included from the National Danish AE cohort (2009-present) and diagnosed based upon autoantibody positivity and diagnostic consensus criteria. CSF-NfL was analyzed by single molecule array technology. Clinical and diagnostic information was retrospectively evaluated and related to NfL levels at baseline and follow-up. NMDAR-AE patients were subdivided into: idiopathic\/teratoma associated or secondary NMDAR-AE (post-viral or concomitant with malignancies\/demyelinating disease).<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>A total of 74 CSF samples from 53 AE patients (37 NMDAR and 16 LGI1 positive) were included in the study. Longitudinal CSF-NfL levels was measured in 21 patients. Median follow-up time was 23.8 and 43.9 months for NMDAR and LGI1-AE respectively. Major findings of this study are: i) CSF-NfL levels were higher in LGI1-AE than in idiopathic\/teratoma associated NMDAR-AE at diagnosis; ii) CSF-NfL levels in NMDAR-AE patients distinguished idiopathic\/teratoma cases from cases with other underlying etiologies (post-viral or malignancies\/demyelinating diseases) and iii) Elevated CSF-NfL at diagnosis seems to be associated with worse long-term disease outcomes in both NMDAR and LGI1-AE.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Discussion<\/jats:title><jats:p>CSF-NfL measurement may be beneficial as a prognostic biomarker in NMDAR and LGI1-AE, and high CSF-NfL could foster search for underlying etiologies in\u00a0NMDAR-AE. Further studies on larger cohorts, using standardized methods, are\u00a0warranted.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fimmu.2021.719432","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,12,16]],"date-time":"2021-12-16T12:59:06Z","timestamp":1639659546000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":34,"title":["CSF-Neurofilament Light Chain Levels in NMDAR and LGI1 Encephalitis: A National Cohort Study"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Mette Scheller","family":"Nissen","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Matias","family":"Ryding","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Anna Christine","family":"Nilsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jonna 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