Plasma phosphorylated tau181 as a biomarker of mild traumatic brain injury: findings from THINC and NCAA-DoD CARE Consortium prospective cohorts

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  • Devoto, Christina
    • Other Affiliation: Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine
  • Vorn, Rany
    • Other Affiliation: National Institutes of Health
  • Mithani, Sara
    • Other Affiliation: University of Texas Health at San Antonio
  • Meier, Timothy B.
    • Other Affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Lai, Chen
    • Other Affiliation: Uniformed Services University and Health Science
  • Broglio, Steven P.
    • Other Affiliation: University of Michigan
  • McAllister, Thomas
    • Other Affiliation: Indiana University School of Medicine
  • Giza, Christopher C.
    • Other Affiliation: University of California, Los Angeles
  • Huber, Daniel
    • Other Affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Harezlak, Jaroslaw
    • Other Affiliation: Indiana University, Bloomington
  • Cameron, Kenneth L.
    • Other Affiliation: Keller Army Hospital
  • McGinty, Gerald
    • Other Affiliation: United States Air Force Academy
  • Jackson, Jonathan
    • Other Affiliation: United States Air Force Academy
  • Guskiewicz, Kevin
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Exercise and Sport Science
  • Mihalik, Jason P.
    • Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Exercise and Sport Science
  • Brooks, Alison
    • Other Affiliation: University of Wisconsin, Madison
  • Duma, Stefan
    • Other Affiliation: Virginia Tech
  • Rowson, Steven
    • Other Affiliation: Virginia Tech
  • Nelson, Lindsay D.
    • Other Affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Pasquina, Paul
    • Other Affiliation: Uniformed Services University and Health Science
  • Turtzo, Christine
    • Other Affiliation: National Institutes of Health
  • Latour, Lawrence
    • Other Affiliation: National Institutes of Health
  • McCrea, Michael A.
    • Other Affiliation: Medical College of Wisconsin
  • Gill, Jessica M.
    • Other Affiliation: Johns Hopkins University
  • CARE Consortium Investigators
Abstract
  • Objective The aim of this study was to investigate phosphorylated tau (p-tau181) protein in plasma in a cohort of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) patients and a cohort of concussed athletes. Methods This pilot study comprised two independent cohorts. The first cohort—part of a Traumatic Head Injury Neuroimaging Classification (THINC) study—with a mean age of 46 years was composed of uninjured controls (UIC, n = 30) and mTBI patients (n = 288) recruited from the emergency department with clinical computed tomography (CT) and research magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. The second cohort—with a mean age of 19 years—comprised 133 collegiate athletes with (n = 112) and without (n = 21) concussions. The participants enrolled in the second cohort were a part of a multicenter, prospective, case-control study conducted by the NCAA-DoD Concussion Assessment, Research and Education (CARE) Consortium at six CARE Advanced Research Core (ARC) sites between 2015 and 2019. Blood was collected within 48 h of injury for both cohorts. Plasma concentration (pg/ml) of p-tau181 was measured using the Single Molecule Array ultrasensitive assay. Results Concentrations of plasma p-tau181 in both cohorts were significantly elevated compared to controls within 48 h of injury, with the highest concentrations of p-tau181 within 18 h of injury, with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.690–0.748, respectively, in distinguishing mTBI patients and concussed athletes from controls. Among the mTBI patients, the levels of plasma p-tau181 were significantly higher in patients with positive neuroimaging (either CT+/MRI+, n = 74 or CT−/MRI+, n = 89) compared to mTBI patients with negative neuroimaging (CT−/MRI−, n = 111) findings and UIC (P-values < 0.05). Conclusion These findings indicate that plasma p-tau181 concentrations likely relate to brain injury, with the highest levels in patients with neuroimaging evidence of injury. Future research is needed to replicate and validate this protein assay's performance as a possible early diagnostic biomarker for mTBI/concussions.
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Resource type
  • Article
License
  • Attribution 4.0 International
Journal title
  • Frontiers in Neurology
Journal volume
  • 2
Journal issue
  • 8
Page start
  • e0000152
Language
  • English
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  • Publisher
ISSN
  • 1664-2295
Publisher
  • Frontiers Media SA

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