The Prognostic Value of Serum Neuron Specific Enolase (NSE) and S100B Level in Patients of Acute Spinal Cord Injury

Background: The correlation between serum concentration of neuron specific enolase (NSE), S100B, and the prognosis of patients with acute spinal cord injury (ASCI) remains controversial. Material/Methods: Sixty patients with confirmed diagnosis of ASCI were recruited for this study from February 2015 to January 2017. The serum level of NSE and S100B were dynamically measured: on the day of injury and for 2 weeks. The 60 cases were divided into Group A (1 or more than 1 ASIA grade improved at 6 months after the injury) and Group B (ASIA grades changed <1 at 6 months after the injury). The serum level of the 2 groups were compared at different time points. And the prognostic value of serum NSE and S100B as biomarkers in patients with ASCI were calculated by Bayes theorem. Results: The serum levels of NSE in Groups A and B on the 2nd day of injury reached a peak at 66.80 +/- 13.76 g/L and 98.87 +/- 20.12 mu g/L, respectively, and then declined gradually. On the 14th day of injury, the serum levels of NSE in both groups were 21.23+8.45 and 39.32 +/- 16.31 mu g/L, respectively, which were much lower than those on the 2nd day (P<0.05). The serum levels of S100B in Groups A and B rose after the injury and reached a peak on the 4th day of injury. Then, the levels declined gradually to 1.14 +/- 0.64 and 1.97 +/- 0.98 mu g/L, respectively, 2 weeks after the injury. Serum levels of NSE and S100B were good biomarkers for predicting the prognosis of ASCI patients with the sensitivity of 74.35% and 71.79%, the specificity of 71.43% and 66.67%. The cutoff value for serum NSE and S100B were 29.07 mu g/L and 1.67 mu g/L respectively. The AUCs were 0.78 (95% CI: 0.66-0.89) and 0.76 (95% CI: 0.63-0.89) respectively for serum NSE and S100B. Conclusions: Serum levels of NSE and S100B protein can reflect the degree of spinal cord injury and could be potential bio- markers for the prognosis of acute spinal cord injury.