Biomarkers of long-term consequences of traumatic brain injuries sustained during military service
Year: 2024
Type: editorial
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: demonstrated significantly higher rates of anxiety and depressive symptoms.The authors went further to demonstrate that a history of neurotrauma was also associated with a significantly worse reported quality of life and poorer motor function as compared to those without injury or with extracranial injury alone.The authors also probed the relationships between TBI, its chronic complications, and blood biomarkers relevant to neuropsychiatric disorders.These included glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), neurofilament light (NfL), total tau, phospho-tau181, amyloid-β peptides (Aβ 42 and 40).Of these, only GFAP demonstrated a significant chronic elevation specific to the TBI group, although among this group, both GFAP and NfL levels reflected injury severity (i.e. higher in moderate-severe TBI patients as compared to mild).Importantly, the authors sampled levels annually following the index encounter and noted that GFAP and Aβ 42 decreased over time.These relationships are of particular interest given that these biomarkers are thought to be associated in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and AD-related dementias (ADRDs) thus representing a potential pathophysiologic mechanism connecting TBI and cognitive impairment.The findings related to GFAP levels suggest alterations in brain biochemistry persist for many years following initial injury.Moreover, by linking this finding to TBI sequelae, the authors make steps towards gaining a mechanistic understanding of chronic TBI.These results confirm the profound toll that combat-associated neurotrauma, even seemingly mild injuries, can have on long-term neurocognitive and quality of life metrics, and open a new window into how molecular biomarkers may provide mechanistic insights and accelerate the day when effective disease-modifying therapies are available.
Authors: Rachel Thomas, Ramon Diaz-Arrastia
Institution: University of Pennsylvania
Language: English
Subfield: Epidemiology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4403331340