TY  - JOUR
AU  - Bergmann, Carina
AU  - Häsler, Lisa M
AU  - Lambert, Marius
AU  - Kaeser, Stephan A
AU  - Schultz, Stephanie A
AU  - Riond, Barbara
AU  - Weiss, Marco
AU  - Balz, Martina
AU  - Knauf-Witzens, Tobias
AU  - Jucker, Mathias
TI  - Neurofilament light chain may serve as a cross-species blood biomarker to assess aging and predict mortality.
JO  - PLoS biology
VL  - 24
IS  - 2
SN  - 1544-9173
CY  - Lawrence, KS
PB  - PLoS
M1  - DZNE-2026-00210
SP  - e3003606
PY  - 2026
AB  - Blood levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) increase with age in healthy humans and have been shown to predict all-cause human mortality. To determine whether this relationship is conserved across species, we analyzed NfL in the blood of various animals. We observed age-related increases in NfL levels comparable to those seen in humans in mice, cats, dogs and horses. Longitudinal analysis of NfL trajectories in aged mice demonstrated that a faster rate of NfL increase predicts mortality. When comparing baseline NfL levels across 13 species, we found that those with lower baseline NfL levels tended to have longer lifespans; however, the collinearity between body size and life span complicates the interpretation of this finding. NfL was also robustly detected in blood of 39 additional mammalian species, as well as a few reptiles and birds, consistent with a conserved amino acid sequence of the NfL fragment in blood. Given the growing interest in NfL as a biomarker for neurological health and mortality in humans, our findings suggest that NfL may serve as a cross-species blood biomarker for assessing aging interventions and predicting mortality.
KW  - Neurofilament Proteins: blood
KW  - Animals
KW  - Biomarkers: blood
KW  - Aging: blood
KW  - Humans
KW  - Mice
KW  - Dogs
KW  - Male
KW  - Cats
KW  - Female
KW  - Longevity
KW  - Species Specificity
KW  - Horses
KW  - Neurofilament Proteins (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - Biomarkers (NLM Chemicals)
KW  - neurofilament protein L (NLM Chemicals)
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
C6  - pmid:41712539
DO  - DOI:10.1371/journal.pbio.3003606
UR  - https://pub.dzne.de/record/285268
ER  -