Higher Concentration of Plasma Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in Wilson Disease Patients with Neurological Manifestations

BACKGROUND: Wilson disease is a rare, disabling, neurological genetic disease. Biomarkers of brain damage are less well developed. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the utility of plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein as a biomarker for neurological involvement in patients with Wilson disease. METHODS: This prospective cross‐observational study compared plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein concentration among different subtypes of patients with Wilson disease and healthy control subjects. Plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein levels were measured in 94 patients and 25 healthy control subjects. Patients were divided into two subtypes: patients with neurological manifestations (n = 74) or hepatic manifestations (n = 20). RESULTS: Median levels of plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein were significantly elevated in patients with neurological manifestations (143.87 pg/mL) compared with those with hepatic manifestations (107.50 pg/mL) and healthy control subjects (86.85 pg/mL). Receiver operating characteristic curve revealed that a plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein cutoff value of 128.8 pg/mL provides sufficient sensitivity (80.0%) and specificity (63.5%) to differentiate patients with neurological manifestations from those with hepatic manifestations. CONCLUSIONS: Plasma glial fibrillary acidic protein may serve as a biomarker for distinguishing different subtypes of Wilson disease. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society