To investigate the relationship between neuronal, glial and mitochondrial damage with respect to LHON and ADOA optic nerve structural modifications, we measured serum levels of NfL (sNfL), GFAP (sGFAP) and GDF-15 (sGDF-15) in 9 genetically confirmed ADOA and 12 (11778/14484) confirmed LHON patients. This evidence concerns the gene GDF15 and autosomal dominant optic atrophy.