Evaluation of the Blood and Serum Biomarkers for the Prognosis and Progression of the ALS Disease by Eliminating the Effects of Aging

Abstract

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is the most common motor neuron disease. There are no pathognomonic tests for ALS prognosis; clinical diagnosis of the disease takes time and is usually difficult. Prognostic biomarkers are urgently needed for rapid and effective ALS prognosis. Male albino rats were divided into ten groups based on age as 0 (40–45 days old), A (70–75 days old), B (90–95 days old), C (110–115 days old), and D (130–135 days old). Each group is divided into two subgroups according to their mutation status as wild type (SOD1WT) and mutated (SOD1G93A). Serum and blood biomarkers were measured of 90 rats to evaluate possible biomarkers for ALS prognosis. Weight loss, cholesterol, creatinine, Alkaline phosphatase (ALKP), glucose, total bilirubin (TBIL), blood urine nitrogen (BUN), c-peptide, glucagon, PYY, MCP-1, white blood cell (WBC), lymphocyte (LYM), monocyte (MID), granulocyte (GRAN), red blood cell (RBC), hemoglobin (HGB), hematocrit (HCT), mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular hemoglobin (MCH), mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC), red cell distribution width with standard deviation (RDW-SD), red cell distribution width with the coefficient of variation (RDW-CV), platelet (PLT), mean platelet volume (MPV), platelet distribution width (PDW) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels were changed in the SOD1G93A rats compared to the SOD1WT rats. First time in the literature, we showed promising blood and serum biomarkers in the pre-symptomatic and symptomatic stages of ALS by eliminating the effects of aging that can be used for early diagnosis of ALS.