Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) reflects pathophysiological aspects of neurological diseases, where neuroprotective strategies and biomarkers for neuroinflammation and –degeneration are urgently needed. CSF should be routinely analysed in patients with a first clinical event suggestive of neuroinflammation (eg., demyelinating diseases) and is again mandatory for the diagnosis of relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) (temporal dissemination) as from the recently revised criteria. The detection of oligoclonal IgG bands in CSF has potential prognostic value and is helpful for clinical decision-making. In addition, CSF analysis is important for research into the pathogenesis of MS, both from the neuroinflammatory and –degenerative perspective. Novel CSF biomarkers have been identified for MS diagnosis, disease activity, prognosis and response to treatment, and are likely to increase in number with modern detection techniques.
In this update meeting, we summarize the great potential for CSF analysis and findings shedding light on differential diagnoses within neuroinflammatory disorders, and on potentially novel biomarkers of pathophysiology and prognosis.
A session on CSF biobanking will be held by virtue of its relevance for biomarker discovery and evaluation in neurological diseases.Aspects such as quality control, pre-analytical and storage variation on a broad range of CSF proteins, the selection of optimal control groups for investigating biomarkers, and the intensive collaboration in international networks and the tight application of standardized protocols will be discussed at international and national levels.
Lastly, a session ‘from bedside to benchside’ will be held by researchers with expertise in CSF analysis and search for biomarkers in neuroinflammation and degeneration.