Neurofilament Proteins as Body Fluid Biomarkers of Neurodegeneration in Multiple Sclerosis

Figure 1

Diagram of the subunit proteins of neurofilaments. NF-L, NF-M, NF-H, and α-internexin can be regarded as the major subunits of adult NFs though NFs may also contain peripherin, vimentin, and nestin in certain locations, developmental stages, and possibly damage or disease states. Phosphorylation sites for protein kinase A (A kinase), protein kinase C (C kinase), and cdc2 kinases (cdc2 kinase) have been characterized in the globular “head” regions of certain of these molecules as indicated. The regions indicated by KSP, SP, KSD, and DEPPS are known serine phosphorylation sites in the “tail” regions. EEIIEE, KE repeats, Tail a, E segment, KEP segment, KE segment, RGD, and QE repeats each refer to specific kinds of sequence motif. For further details, see Shaw 1998 [13].