Advances Research in Traumatic Encephalopathy

Brain Injury and Neurodegeneration: Molecular, Functional, and Translational Approach 2.0

The brain is composed of different cells, such as neurons, glia, endothelial cells, etc [...].

Emerging frontiers in Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy: early diagnosis and implications for neurotherapeutic interventions

INTRODUCTION

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with repetitive head trauma. Historically, the diagnosis has been primarily clinical, which has hindered definitive early diagnosis and proactive intervention.

AREAS COVERED

The authors analyze the recent advancements in early diagnosis of CTE by examining biomarkers, imaging, and clinical decision tools. They discuss the identification of neuropathologies - such as tau aggregates - through novel techniques ranging from blood sampling and to brain density scanning. The reader will walk away with a better understanding of current advancements in early detection and be better equipped to deal with encephalopathies secondary to trauma in clinical practice.

EXPERT OPINION

Tremendous progress has been made in understanding the pathophysiology of CTE. Despite these advancements, CTE treatment is still primarily symptomatic rather than underlying disease. Future research should focus on integrating current understanding of CTE pathophysiology with treatment modalities.

The bibliometric and altmetric analysis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy research: how great is the impact?

Background

The study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has received great attention from academia and the general public. This study aims to analyze the research productivity on CTE and investigate the most discussed articles in academia and the general public by conducting bibliometric and altmetric analyses.

Methods

Data of articles were obtained from the Web of Science Core Databases and Altmetric Explore. VOSviewer and CiteSpace software were used to analyze and visualize the articles. The correlation between Altmetric attention scores (AAS) and citation counts were assessed by Spearman correlation coefficient.

Results

788 publications of CTE were eventually gathered and analyzed, and 100 articles with highest citation counts (Top-cited) and 100 articles with highest AASs (Top-AAS) were then identified. The keywords density map showed both the general public and the scientists were particularly interested in the risk factors and pathology of CTE, and scientists were interested in the causes and characteristics of neurodegenerative diseases while the public became increasingly concerned about the detection and prevention of CTE. By examining the shared characteristics of the 44 articles (High-High articles) that overlapped between Top-cited and Top-AAS articles, we identified certain traits that may potentially contribute to their high citation rates and high AASs. Besides, significant positive correlations with varied strength between AAS and citation were observed in the 788 articles, Top-cited, Top-AAS and High-High datasets.

Conclusion

This study is the first to link bibliometric and altmetric analyses for CTE publications, which may provide deeper understanding of the attention of the scientists and the general public pay to the study of CTE, and offer some guidance and inspiration for future CTE in the selection of research topics and directions.

Inflammation and neuronal gene expression changes differ in early versus late chronic traumatic encephalopathy brain

BACKGROUND

Our understanding of the molecular underpinnings of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and its associated pathology in post-mortem brain is incomplete. Factors including years of play and genetic risk variants influence the extent of tau pathology associated with disease expression, but how these factors affect gene expression, and whether those effects are consistent across the development of disease, is unknown.

METHODS

To address these questions, we conducted an analysis of the largest post-mortem brain CTE mRNASeq whole-transcriptome dataset available to date. We examined the genes and biological processes associated with disease by comparing individuals with CTE with control individuals with a history of repetitive head impacts that lack CTE pathology. We then identified genes and biological processes associated with total years of play as a measure of exposure, amount of tau pathology present at time of death, and the presence of APOE and TMEM106B risk variants. Samples were stratified into low and high pathology groups based on McKee CTE staging criteria to model early versus late changes in response to exposure, and the relative effects associated with these factors were compared between these groups.

RESULTS

Substantial gene expression changes were associated with severe disease for most of these factors, primarily implicating diverse, strongly involved neuroinflammatory and neuroimmune processes. In contrast, low pathology groups had many fewer genes and processes implicated and show striking differences for some factors when compared with severe disease. Specifically, gene expression associated with amount of tau pathology showed a nearly perfect inverse relationship when compared between these two groups.

CONCLUSIONS

Together, these results suggest the early CTE disease process may be mechanistically different than what occurs in late stages, that total years of play and tau pathology influence disease expression differently, and that related pathology-modifying risk variants may do so via distinct biological pathways.