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Predictive and Diagnostic Biomarkers in Inflammatory and Neurodegenerative Diseases

A special issue of International Journal of Molecular Sciences (ISSN 1422-0067). This special issue belongs to the section "Molecular Neurobiology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (20 April 2025) | Viewed by 2761

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Guest Editor
1. Clinical Biochemistry Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Proteins, University Hospital (PTV), 00133 Rome, Italy
2. Clinical Pathology and Clinical Biochemistry, Graduate School, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tor Vergata, 00133 Rome, Italy
Interests: clinical biochemistry; COVID; nutrition; vitamins; inflammation; neuroscience; neurodegenerative diseases; CSF indexes; blood morphology
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Several neurodegenerative pathologies of the nervous system, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD), Parkinson’s disease (PD), multiple sclerosis (MS) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), share a common state of chronic neuroinflammation. This Special Issue presents a collection of research articles and reviews investigating the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying neurodegeneration. The focus is on studying the diagnostic performance of inflammation biomarkers and pathology-specific biological indicators (both classic and new-generation biomarkers) to identify reliable biomarkers that can guide future research and emphasize their utility in clinical practice.

Dr. Maria Morello
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • Parkinson’s disease
  • Alzheimer’s disease
  • multiple sclerosis
  • amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
  • neurodegenerative diseases
  • inflammation amyloid plaques
  • tau
  • alpha-synuclein
  • cytokines
  • neurofilaments
  • vitamins

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Review

23 pages, 1424 KiB  
Review
Laboratory Diagnosis of Intrathecal Synthesis of Immunoglobulins: A Review about the Contribution of OCBs and K-index
by Maria Morello, Simone Mastrogiovanni, Fabio Falcione, Vanessa Rossi, Sergio Bernardini, Stefania Casciani, Antonietta Viola, Marilina Reali and Massimo Pieri
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2024, 25(10), 5170; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms25105170 - 9 May 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2270
Abstract
The diagnosis of MS relies on a combination of imaging, clinical examinations, and biological analyses, including blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) assessments. G-Oligoclonal bands (OCBs) are considered a “gold standard” for MS diagnosis due to their high sensitivity and specificity. Recent advancements have [...] Read more.
The diagnosis of MS relies on a combination of imaging, clinical examinations, and biological analyses, including blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) assessments. G-Oligoclonal bands (OCBs) are considered a “gold standard” for MS diagnosis due to their high sensitivity and specificity. Recent advancements have involved the introduced of kappa free light chain (k-FLC) assay into cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum (S), along with the albumin quotient, leading to the development of a novel biomarker known as the “K-index” or “k-FLC index”. The use of the K-index has been recommended to decrease costs, increase laboratory efficiency, and to skip potential subjective operator-dependent risk that could happen during the identification of OCBs profiles. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview and analysis of recent scientific articles, focusing on updated methods for MS diagnosis with an emphasis on the utility of the K-index. Numerous studies indicate that the K-index demonstrates high sensitivity and specificity, often comparable to or surpassing the diagnostic accuracy of OCBs evaluation. The integration of the measure of the K-index with OCBs assessment emerges as a more precise method for MS diagnosis. This combined approach not only enhances diagnostic accuracy, but also offers a more efficient and cost-effective alternative. Full article
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