Here, the authors evaluated a finger-prick blood collection approach for remote quantification of neurofilament light, a candidate blood-based biomarker evident in various neurological disorders, and other exploratory markers of neuronal injury and neuroinflammation. Matched samples from venepuncture and finger-prick were collected and processed into plasma and/or serum to directly compare analyte levels from a multi-disease discovery cohort; n = 34 multiple sclerosis; n = 7 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; n = 11 Parkinson's disease, and a HD confirmatory cohort (n = 57 healthy controls; n = 64 HD. Capillary NfL and GFAP concentrations were equivalent to those in venous serum and plasma in the multi-disease discovery cohort and HD confirmatory cohort. Only NfL remained stable after a seven-day processing delay in both venous and capillary serum samples. With the widespread applications for NfL across the spectrum of neurological disorders, this has the potential to transform disease monitoring, prognosis, and therapeutic development within clinical practice and research.
