Living patients can now be tested for advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy using a newly identified blood biomarker.
Researchers Find eMTBR-tau243 in Blood
Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St.
The National Institutes of Health funded the work under grant numbers R21AG081961 and K01AG062796. The Knight Alzheimer Disease Research Center at WashU Medicine also provided backing. The medical journal JAMA published the findings late on a Friday after a presentation in Japan.
Investigators checked stored blood samples from 11 people with confirmed CTE at autopsy. They started after noticing high biomarker levels in autopsy records of a patient without Alzheimer’s who had advanced CTE.
“We are potentially opening a new door for diagnosing and treating CTE in living patients,” said Kanta Horie, the co-senior author of the study. Horie also said: “My dream is to clear tauopathies all over the world.”
Assay Tests Advanced Cases
The assay distinguished people with advanced CTE from healthy participants with high accuracy. It could not reliably identify early-stage disease.
“This is not going to be a standalone biomarker. But if someone has a history of repeated head injury, tests negative for Alzheimer’s, and this biomarker comes up, it might be CTE,” Chihiro Sato, the neuroscientist, said, while also saying that much more research is needed.
Large studies must confirm these findings before clinicians can use the blood test in clinical practice. The test could monitor people at risk of CTE, such as former football players, boxers, and combat veterans. It could also enable clinical trials for drugs that target the harmful brain protein.
Contact Sports Face Chronic Risk
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy affects contact sports such as American football, rugby, and association football. Research involving brain donations from nearly 400 NFL players found that 93.5% showed evidence of the condition post-mortem.
More than 350 NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE after death. Hall of Fame center Mike Webster, Junior Seau, Frank Gifford, Steve Thompson, and Ricky Hatton are among them. Seau played a 20-year career with two Super Bowl appearances. Gifford was an MVP and prominent broadcaster. Thompson is an England World Cup-winning rugby player diagnosed with Traumatic Encephalopathy Syndrome. Hatton had a mild CTE diagnosis after his death.
Sports safety protocols changed in response. The Professional Footballers’ Association recommended that professional players should not head a ball more than 10 times a week during training sessions, and that children under 12 should not head the ball at all.
Dr. Rudolph Castellani, a neuropathologist at Northwestern University who was not involved in the research, said that abnormal tau appears in multiple overlapping brain diseases in older adults. Far larger studies are required to establish a definitive clinical connection.
Readers should consult qualified medical professionals regarding any concerns related to head trauma, neurological symptoms, or participating in diagnostic evaluations.
Earlier coverage: Study Finds Tau Protein Accumulates Twice as Fast in Early-Onset Alzheimer's Disease
