TY - JOUR
T1 - Extracellular vesicle neurofilament light is elevated within the first 12-months following traumatic brain injury in a U.S military population
AU - Guedes, Vivian A.
AU - Lange, Rael T.
AU - Lippa, Sara M.
AU - Lai, Chen
AU - Greer, Kisha
AU - Mithani, Sara
AU - Devoto, Christina
AU - A. Edwards, Katie
AU - Wagner, Chelsea L.
AU - Martin, Carina A.
AU - Driscoll, Angela E.
AU - Wright, Megan M.
AU - Gillow, Kelly C.
AU - Baschenis, Samantha M.
AU - Brickell, Tracey A.
AU - French, Louis M.
AU - Gill, Jessica M.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was primarily supported by the Traumatic Brain Injury Center of Excellence (TBICoE; Contract HT0014-19-C-0004), and partially supported by grant funding from the Center for Neuroscience and Regenerative Medicine (HJF/USU Award number: 308811–8.01–60855, CNRM-75-9241) and the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Nursing Research Intramural Research Program. Disclaimer: The views expressed in this manuscript are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official policy or position of the Defense Health Agency, Department of Defense, or any other U.S. government agency. This work was prepared under Contract HT0014-19-C-0004 with DHA Contracting Office (CO-NCR) HT0014 and, therefore, is defined as U.S. Government work under Title 17 U.S.C.§101. Per Title 17 U.S.C.§105, copyright protection is not available for any work of the U.S. Government. For more information, please contact dha.TBICoEinfo@mail.mil.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).
PY - 2022/12
Y1 - 2022/12
N2 - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be associated with long-term neurobehavioral symptoms. Here, we examined levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in extracellular vesicles isolated from blood, and their relationship with TBI severity and neurobehavioral symptom reporting. Participants were 218 service members and veterans who sustained uncomplicated mild TBIs (mTBI, n = 107); complicated mild, moderate, or severe TBIs (smcTBI, n = 66); or Injured controls (IC, orthopedic injury without TBI, n = 45). Within one year after injury, but not after, NfL was higher in the smcTBI group than mTBI (p = 0.001, d = 0.66) and IC (p = 0.001, d = 0.35) groups, which remained after controlling for demographics and injury characteristics. NfL also discriminated the smcTBI group from IC (AUC:77.5%, p < 0.001) and mTBI (AUC:76.1%, p < 0.001) groups. No other group differences were observed for NfL or GFAP at either timepoint. NfL correlated with post-concussion symptoms (rs = − 0.38, p = 0.04) in the mTBI group, and with PTSD symptoms in mTBI (rs = − 0.43, p = 0.021) and smcTBI groups (rs = − 0.40, p = 0.024) within one year after injury, which was not confirmed in regression models. Our results suggest the potential of NfL, a protein previously linked to axonal damage, as a diagnostic biomarker that distinguishes TBI severity within the first year after injury.
AB - Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can be associated with long-term neurobehavioral symptoms. Here, we examined levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in extracellular vesicles isolated from blood, and their relationship with TBI severity and neurobehavioral symptom reporting. Participants were 218 service members and veterans who sustained uncomplicated mild TBIs (mTBI, n = 107); complicated mild, moderate, or severe TBIs (smcTBI, n = 66); or Injured controls (IC, orthopedic injury without TBI, n = 45). Within one year after injury, but not after, NfL was higher in the smcTBI group than mTBI (p = 0.001, d = 0.66) and IC (p = 0.001, d = 0.35) groups, which remained after controlling for demographics and injury characteristics. NfL also discriminated the smcTBI group from IC (AUC:77.5%, p < 0.001) and mTBI (AUC:76.1%, p < 0.001) groups. No other group differences were observed for NfL or GFAP at either timepoint. NfL correlated with post-concussion symptoms (rs = − 0.38, p = 0.04) in the mTBI group, and with PTSD symptoms in mTBI (rs = − 0.43, p = 0.021) and smcTBI groups (rs = − 0.40, p = 0.024) within one year after injury, which was not confirmed in regression models. Our results suggest the potential of NfL, a protein previously linked to axonal damage, as a diagnostic biomarker that distinguishes TBI severity within the first year after injury.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125981063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85125981063&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-022-05772-0
DO - 10.1038/s41598-022-05772-0
M3 - Article
C2 - 35256615
AN - SCOPUS:85125981063
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 12
JO - Scientific reports
JF - Scientific reports
IS - 1
M1 - 4002
ER -