PMID- 26745714 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20161228 LR - 20180816 IS - 1660-2862 (Electronic) IS - 1660-2854 (Linking) VI - 16 IP - 3-4 DP - 2016 TI - BDNF Serum Levels with Respect to Multidimensional Assessment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis. PG - 192-8 LID - 10.1159/000441916 [doi] AB - BACKGROUND: The clinical presentation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is characterized by high heterogeneity, the greatest part of which still remains unexplained. OBJECTIVE: To assess serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in ALS patients, implementing a multidimensional characterization focused on four a priori chosen elements of phenotypic variability: ALS bulbar/spinal subtype, cognitive impairment, mood dysfunction and disease progression speed. METHODS: Serum samples were obtained from 45 ALS outpatients (16% bulbar onset) and 22 healthy controls. Each patient underwent the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and disease progression speed was estimated by calculating the decay of the ALSFRS-R score over time. RESULTS: BDNF serum levels did not differ between patients and controls, although approximately 25% lower levels characterized those patients carrying a depressive trait. Finally, BDNF serum levels were significantly lower in ALS patients expressing lower ALSFRS-R scores (r = 0.39, p < 0.01). No differences were found when considering cognitive impairment, disease progression speed and site of onset. CONCLUSION: BDNF serum levels might mark and possibly contribute in part to ALS phenotypic variability. CI - (c) 2016 S. Karger AG, Basel. FAU - Tremolizzo, Lucio AU - Tremolizzo L AD - Neurology Unit, San Gerardo Hospital, Monza, Italy. FAU - Pellegrini, Andrea AU - Pellegrini A FAU - Conti, Elisa AU - Conti E FAU - Arosio, Alessandro AU - Arosio A FAU - Gerardi, Francesca AU - Gerardi F FAU - Lunetta, Christian AU - Lunetta C FAU - Magni, Paolo AU - Magni P FAU - Appollonio, Ildebrando AU - Appollonio I FAU - Ferrarese, Carlo AU - Ferrarese C LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20160109 PL - Switzerland TA - Neurodegener Dis JT - Neuro-degenerative diseases JID - 101189034 RN - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) RN - 7171WSG8A2 (BDNF protein, human) SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Aged MH - Aged, 80 and over MH - Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/*blood/psychology MH - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood MH - Cognition Disorders/blood MH - Depression/blood MH - Disease Progression MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Male MH - Middle Aged MH - Neuropsychological Tests MH - Outpatients MH - Phenotype MH - Psychiatric Status Rating Scales EDAT- 2016/01/09 06:00 MHDA- 2016/12/29 06:00 CRDT- 2016/01/09 06:00 PHST- 2015/03/20 00:00 [received] PHST- 2015/10/22 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2016/01/09 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2016/01/09 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2016/12/29 06:00 [medline] AID - 000441916 [pii] AID - 10.1159/000441916 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Neurodegener Dis. 2016;16(3-4):192-8. doi: 10.1159/000441916. Epub 2016 Jan 9.