July 17, 2024

expert reaction to study looking at concussion- related biomarkers in retired rugby players

A study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences looks at concussion biomarkers in retired rugby players.

Dr Amanda Heslegrave, Senior Research Fellow, UKDRI Fluid Biomarker Laboratory, UCL, said:

“The long term effects of repeated concussions like those that can be suffered during a sporting career are an area of important research for public health.

“This paper aims to further this research by measuring proteins that are indicative of brain health or injury in blood in retired sportsmen who suffered repeated concussions during their career.

“The press release states that the blood of the previously concussed players contained more serum exosomes in the blood, but the findings in the paper indicate larger exosomes and differences in levels of proteins – and specific proteins such as serum t-tau and ptau 181 are useful biomarkers that give us information about brain health but I don’t think we can say they play a crucial role in the development of AD and MND although higher levels have been measured in both.

“The measurement of these brain derived proteins in serum requires super sensitive technology – though as proteins are concentrated in exosomes it may be possible to use the technology used in this paper for that purpose.

“The sample sizes here are very small – and made smaller when you look at the sub analyses so I do think we need to exercise caution when interpreting results and I would want to see a much bigger study before I would want to draw any conclusions.

“Ways to investigate and mitigate the effects of head injury in sport and general life is a very active and important area of research and more studies are definitely required.”

Prof Tara Spires-Jones, FMedSci, President of the British Neuroscience Association, Deputy Director of the Centre for Discovery Brain Sciences at the University of Edinburgh, and Group Leader in the UK Dementia Research Institute, said:

“This study from Alanazi and colleagues found that rugby players who had a history of concussion had changes in proteins related to neurodegenerative diseases in their blood.  This study had important limitations to consider including the small number of participants (10-23 per group for each measurement) and the lack of correction for multiple comparisons in the statistical analyses.  Despite the limitations of this particular study, there is strong evidence from around the world that head injury contributes to the risk of developing dementia caused by diseases such as chronic traumatic encephalopathy.”

Concussion-Related Biomarker Variations in Retired Rugby Players and Implications for Neurodegenerative Disease Risk: The UK Rugby Health Study’ by Norah Alanazi et al. was published in International Journal of Molecular Science at 00:01 UK time on Wednesday 17^th July.

Declared interests

Dr Amanda Heslegrave: I have been paid to be on a panel for Lilly

Prof Tara Spires-Jones: I have no conflicts of interest with this study.