Blood Biomarkers for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: Myth or Reality?

Table 1

Blood biomarkers related to excitotoxicity and oxidative stress.

Biomarker	ALS	Controls	Finding	Reference
8OH2′dG	57	27H 14ND	High plasma level; Higher level in limb versus bulbar onset	[45]
Antioxidant enzyme	20	20H	Low erythrocyte activity; Correlated with duration	[38]
Antioxidant status	28	20H	High serum level	[43]
Glutamate	42	40H 21ND	Low platelet uptake	[33]
Glutathione	20	20H	Low erythrocyte level; Correlated with duration	[38]
GPX	88	50H	Low erythrocyte activity	[39]
HNE	85	16H 33ND	High serum level	[48]
L-Ferritin	29	36H	High plasma level	[50]
Folate	62	88H	Low plasma level	[36]
Homocysteine	62	88H	High plasma level; Correlated with progression	[36]
	65	67ND	High plasma level	[37]
mGLUR2	20	20H 20ND	Low T lymphocyte expression	[34]
Nitric oxide	22	20H	High serum level; Correlated with duration	[49]
Prostaglandin E2	20	20H	High serum level	[47]
Red cell SOD	25	10H	High level	[40]
SOD1	88	50H	Low erythrocyte activity; Correlated with disease status	[39]
Transferrin	29	36H	Low plasma level	[50]
Uric acid	86	86H	Low serum level; Correlated with ALSFRS-R	[44]

H: healthy; ND: neurological/neurodegenerative disease; 8OH2′dG: 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine; ALSFRS-R: revised ALS functional rating scale; GPX: glutathione peroxidase; HNE: 4-hydroxy-2,3-nonenal; mGLUR2: metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 2; SOD1: Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase.