TY - JOUR PY - 2021// TI - Extracellular vesicle-associated cytokines in sport-related concussion JO - Brain, behavior, and immunity A1 - Meier, Timothy A1 - Guedes, Vivian A. A1 - Smith, Ethan G. A1 - Sass, Dilorom A1 - Mithani, Sara A1 - Vorn, Rany A1 - Savitz, Jonathan A1 - Kent Teague, T. A1 - McCrea, Michael A. A1 - Gill, Jessica M. SP - ePub EP - ePub VL - ePub IS - ePub N2 - Growing evidence suggests that sport-related concussion results in a robust inflammatory response that can be measured in serum or plasma and is predictive of symptom recovery. Recently, extracellular vesicles (EV) derived from serum or plasma have emerged as a promising source of biomarkers for neurological disorders like concussion because they may better reflect central immunological activity. However, the association of acute concussion with EV-associated cytokines has not yet been systematically studied in humans. We tested the hypothesis that EV-associated cytokines are elevated acutely and predictive of symptom duration following concussion in a cohort of high-school and collegiate football players. Players were enrolled and provided serum samples at a preseason baseline visit (N=857). An additional blood draw was obtained in players that subsequently suffered a concussion (N=23) within 6-hours post-injury and in matched, uninjured players (N=44). Concentrations of Interleukin-6 (IL-6), IL-1β, IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA), IL-10, and tumor necrosis factor were measured in EV and EV-depleted serum samples. EV-associated IL-6 was significantly elevated post-injury relative to baseline levels and controls (ps<0.01). In EV-depleted samples, IL-1RA was significantly elevated post-injury relative to baseline levels and controls (ps<0.01). Time-to-event analyses showed that post-injury EV-associated IL-6 levels were positively associated with the number of days that injured athletes reported symptoms (p<0.05). These results highlight the potential of EV-associated cytokines as biomarkers of concussion.

Language: en

LA - en SN - 0889-1591 UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2021.11.015 ID - ref1 ER -