Abstract
Severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE) is a devastating condition that can lead to mortality and long-term disabilities in term newborns. No rapid and reliable laboratory test exists to assess the degree of neuronal injury in these patients. We propose two possible biomarkers: 1) phosphorylated axonal neurofilament heavy chain (pNF-H) protein, one of the major subunits of neurofilaments, found only in axonal cytoskeleton of neurons and 2) Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase 1 (UCHL1 protein) that is heavily and specifically concentrated in neuronal perikarya and dendrites. High-serum pNF-H and UCHL1 levels are reported in subarachnoid hemorrhage and traumatic brain injury, suggesting that they are released into blood following neuronal injury. We hypothesized that serum pNF-H and UCHL1 were higher in neonates with moderate-to-severe HIE than in healthy neonates. A time-limited enrollment of 14 consecutive patients with HIE and 14 healthy controls was performed. UCHL1 and pNF-H were correlated with clinical data and brain MRI. UCHL1 and pNF-H serum levels were higher in HIE versus controls. UCHL1 showed correlation with the 10-min Apgar score, and pNF-H showed correlation with abnormal brain MRI. Our findings suggest that serum UCHL1 and pNF-H could be explored as diagnostic and prognostic tools in neonatal HIE.
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Abbreviations
- CSF:
-
cerebrospinal fluid
- CV:
-
coefficient of variance
- HIE:
-
hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy
- HRP:
-
horse radish peroxidase
- pNF-H:
-
phosphorylated axonal neurofilament heavy chain
- ROC:
-
receiver operating characteristic
- UCHL1:
-
ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase 1
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Supported, in part, by Grants M01RR00082 and U54RR025208 from the National Institute of Research Resources and National Institutes of Health and by Grant NS02198 [M.D.W.].
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Douglas-Escobar, M., Yang, C., Bennett, J. et al. A Pilot Study of Novel Biomarkers in Neonates With Hypoxic-Ischemic Encephalopathy. Pediatr Res 68, 531–536 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181f85a03
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/PDR.0b013e3181f85a03
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