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Increased CSF neurogranin concentration is specific to Alzheimer disease
Wellington H, Paterson RW, Portelius E, Törnqvist U, Magdalinou N, Fox NC, Blennow K, Schott JM et al.. Neurology, 2016-01-29
Topic: Brain proteins, microglia and lab models
Objective To assess the specificity of the dendritic protein neurogranin (Ng) in CSF from patients with a broad range of neurodegenerative diseases including a variety of dementias, tauopathies, and synucleinopathies. Method An optimized immunoassay was used to analyze CSF Ng in a retrospective cohort of 331 participants with different neurodegenerative diseases, including healthy controls (n = 19), biomarker-proven Alzheimer disease (AD) (n = 100), genetic AD (n = 2), behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (n = 20), speech variant frontotemporal dementia (n = 21), Lewy body dementia (n = 13), Parkinson disease (n = 31), progressive supranuclear palsy (n = 46), multiple system atrophy (n = 29), as well as a heterogeneous group with non-neurodegenerative cognitive impairment (n = 50). CSF Ng concentrations and correlations of CSF Ng with total tau, phosphorylated tau, and β-amyloid 42 concentrations, Mini-Mental State Examination score, and disease duration in the different groups were investigated. Results Median CSF Ng concentration was higher in patients with AD compared to both controls (p Conclusions These results confirm an increase in CSF Ng concentration in patients with AD as previously reported and show that this is specific to AD and not seen in a range of other neurodegenerative diseases.
Key findings
- Results Median CSF Ng concentration was higher in patients with AD compared to both controls (p < 0.001) and all other disease groups (all p < 0.001) except speech variant frontotemporal dementia.
Why it matters
This study found that higher cerebrospinal fluid neurogranin concentration was specific to Alzheimer's disease and not seen in other neurodegenerative diseases. It is about a potential diagnostic marker, not about treating, curing or preventing the disease.
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Study details
- Study designretrospective cohort
- Participants19
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 66/100
Published in a leading specialty journal, and it is a retrospective cohort study, reconstructed from past records. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 9 / 10 | Tier 2 — leading specialty journal (Neurology) |
| Journal's citation record | 4 / 4 | Neurology: journal h-index 525 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A retrospective cohort study, reconstructed from past records |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2016 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 19 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | 5 / 7 | Cited 232 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 3 / 5 | 19.3 citations a year over 12 year(s) since 2016 |
| Impact for its field and year | 4 / 6 | Cited 18.1× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 3 / 6 | Cited by 18 other studies in this library |
| Still being cited | 3 / 4 | Cited 51 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Henrik Zetterberg: h-index 196 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 2 / 3 | University College London: institution h-index 2,029 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 4 institution(s) in 2 countries |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 26826204) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Total | 66 / 100 | — |
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Read the original
Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Wellington, H., Paterson, R. W., Portelius, E., Törnqvist, U., Magdalinou, N., Fox, N. C., et al. (2016). Increased CSF neurogranin concentration is specific to Alzheimer disease. Neurology. https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000002423
Vancouver
Wellington H, Paterson RW, Portelius E, Törnqvist U, Magdalinou N, Fox NC, et al. Increased CSF neurogranin concentration is specific to Alzheimer disease. Neurology. 2016. doi:10.1212/wnl.0000000000002423. PMID: 26826204.
BibTeX
@article{wellington2016-26826204,
author = {Wellington, H. and Paterson, R. W. and Portelius, E. and Törnqvist, U. and Magdalinou, N. and Fox, N. C. and Blennow, K. and Schott, J. M. and others},
title = {{Increased CSF neurogranin concentration is specific to Alzheimer disease}},
journal = {Neurology},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1212/wnl.0000000000002423},
pmid = {26826204},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1212/wnl.0000000000002423}
}
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