Longitudinal changes in blood-based biomarkers in chronic moderate to severe traumatic brain injury: preliminary findings

Abstract

Objectives: This longitudinal study aims at 1) providing preliminary evidence of changes in blood-based biomarkers across time in chronic TBI and 2) relating these changes to outcome measures and cerebral structure and activity. Methods: Eight patients with moderate-to-severe TBI (7 males, 35 ± 7.6 years old, 5 severe TBI, 17.52 ± 3.84 months post-injury) were evaluated at monthly intervals across 6 time-points using: a) Blood-based biomarkers (GFAP, NSE, S100A12, SDBP145, UCH-L1, T-tau, P-tau, P-tau/T-tau ratio); b) Magnetic Resonance Imaging to evaluate changes in brain structure; c) Resting-state electroencephalograms to evaluate changes in brain function; and d) Outcome measures to assess cognition, emotion, and functional recovery (MOCA, RBANS, BDI-II, and DRS). Results: Changes in P-tau levels were found across time [p = .007]. P-tau was positively related to functional [p