Evaluation of Tumor Marker S-100 in Cerebrospinal Fluid from Subjects with Nonischemic Brain Pathologies

Abstract

In order to evaluate the S-100 concentration in cerebrospinal fluid from subjects with nonischemic brain damage, a total of 33 samples were analyzed: 11 from subjects in whom no organic disease could be found; 14 from patients with a diagnosis of lymphocytic or bacterial-fungal meningitis, and 8 from patients with acute lymphatic leukemia but no demonstrable signs of meningeal involvement. In all cases, the subjects considered had no previous history of melanoma or ischemic brain damage. The mean levels ± SEM found for each study group were 1.00 ± 0.11, 1.67 ± 0.23 and 1.17 ± 0.14 μg/l, respectively. Significant differences appeared between the groups when applying the Kruskal-Wallis nonparametric test (p = 0.035). The highest levels were found in the meningitis group and were significantly different from those of the control group (p = 0.015). No significant differences were found with regard to age or sex. Based on the pathophysiology of meningitis and on previous studies, the results suggest the existence of brain damage caused by an infection as a possible cause of increased S-100 levels.

Serum S100B levels in patients with cerebral and extracerebral infectious disease

“…A few studies on CNS infections have previously been conducted, studying meningitis (17 Á/19), encephalitis (18,20,21), fungal infections of the brain (19,22) and other aspects (23 Á/25). However, some of these studies are outdated and use older analysis kits, some deal only with CSF, some deal with other, less well documented, markers and 1 study involves animal models (22).…”

S100B in brain damage and neurodegeneration

“…In bacterial-fungal or lymphocytic menigitis, an increase of S100 CSF levels has been reported (Infante et al, 2000). In an earlier study, Sindic and colleagues (1982) reported increased S100 CSF levels in patients with viral and to a lesser extent with bacterial meningitis.…”

“…Lamers and colleagues (1995) failed to find any differences concerning S100 CSF concentrations in meningitis. The comparability of these studies is impaired because all three studies used different assays with a variety of lower detection limits (Sindic et al (1982): 2,500 ng/L, Lamers et al (1995): 500 ng/L, Infante et al (2000): 200 ng/L). In neuroborreliosis, S100 CSF concentrations did not alter with clinical improvement (Dotevall et al, 1999).…”

Sequential analyses of neurobiochemical markers of cerebral damage in cerebrospinal fluid and serum in CNS infections

“…Several previous studies have investigated the role of protein S-100B and/or NSE in meningitis, neuroborreliosis and lymphatic leukaemia (8)(9)(10)(11)(12).…”