Peripheral tau concentration with traumatic brain injury

• 出 处: 中华物理医学与康复杂志
• 发表日期: 2016年38期

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is recognized as the signature injury of combatants in recent Middle Eastern deployments. Current diagnostic tools are unable to identify individuals at greatest risk for chronic neurologic deficits following TBI. As tau is a protein associated with axonal injury, this study examined the associations between tau concentrations and the severity, number and frequency of deployment related TBIs.

METHODS

Subjects for this study were United States military personnel deployed within the prior 16 months. Plasma tau concentrations were measured using a novel ultrasensitive assay. Subjects were classified as positive or negative for a self-reported TBI, endorsing either loss of consciousness or experiencing symptoms of posttraumatic amnesia. The diagnosis of or treatment for TBI was extracted from medical records. Tau concentrations were compared between those with and those without a history of TBI.

RESULTS

Of the subjects, 70 were in the TBI group and 20 in the control group. A significantly elevated concentration of total tau was found in the self-reported TBI group as compared to the controls (P＝0.003). Within the self-reported TBI group, severity variables were significantly related to total tau concentrations. In addition, total tau concentrations were associated with a medical record of TBI compared to those with only a self-reported TBI, as well as for those reporting the occurrence of three or more TBIs as compared with fewer (P＝ 0.008). The severity of total post-concussive symptoms correlated with total tau concentrations in the self-report group (P＝0.003).

CONCLUSION

This study of military personnel with a history of traumatic brain injury (TBI) found that total tau concentrations in the peripheral blood correlated with the severity and frequency of TBIs.