Citation

Begum G, Reddy R, Yakoub KM, Belli A, Davies DJ, Di Pietro V. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2020; 21(4): e1216.

Affiliation

National Institute for Health Research Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TH, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Molecular Diversity Preservation International)

DOI

10.3390/ijms21041216

PMID

32059364

Abstract

Sport-related traumatic brain injury (TBI) elicits a multifaceted inflammatory response leading to brain injury and morbidity. This response could be a predictive tool for the progression of TBI and to stratify the injury of which mild TBI is most prevalent. Therefore, we examined the differential expression of serum inflammatory markers overtime and identified novel markers in repetitively concussed athletes. Neuropsychological assessment by Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Test (ImPACT) was performed on rugby players and serum was taken from healthy, concussed and repetitively concussed athletes. Serum was also obtained <1 week and >1 week after trauma and analyzed for 92 inflammatory protein markers. Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) and interleukin-7 (IL-7) differentiated repetitively concussed athletes. Macrophage chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), tumor necrosis factor superfamily member 14 (TNFSF14) were significantly reduced >1 week and chemokine (C-X3-C motif) ligand 1 (CX3CL1) upregulated <1 week after injury. FGF21 and MCP-1 negatively correlated with symptoms and their severity. We have identified dynamic changes in the inflammatory response overtime and in different classes of concussion correlating with disease progression. This data supports the use of inflammatory biomarkers as predictors of symptom development due to secondary complications of sport-related mTBI.

Language: en

Keywords

FGF21; MCP-1; concussion; mild traumatic brain injury; neuroinflammation