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Blood Biomarkers in Brain Injury Medicine

  • Brain Injury Medicine and Rehabilitation (M Segal, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

This review seeks to explore blood-based biomarkers with the potential for clinical implementation.

Recent Findings

Emerging non-proteomic biomarkers hold promise for more accurate diagnostic and prognostic capabilities, especially in the subacute to chronic phase of TBI recovery. Furthermore, there is a growing understanding of the overlap between TBI-related and dementia-related blood biomarkers.

Summary

Given the significant heterogeneity inherent in the clinical diagnosis of traumatic brain injury (TBI), there has been an exponential increase in TBI-related biomarker research over the past two decades. While TBI-related biomarker assessments include both cerebrospinal fluid analysis and advanced neuroimaging modalities, blood-based biomarkers hold the most promise to be non-invasive biomarkers widely available to Brain Injury Medicine clinicians in diverse practice settings. In this article, we review the most relevant blood biomarkers for the field of Brain Injury Medicine, including both proteomic and non-proteomic blood biomarkers, biomarkers of cerebral microvascular injury, and biomarkers that overlap between TBI and dementia.

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Funding

RLS was supported, in part, by the United States (U.S.) Department of Veterans Affairs Rehabilitation R&D (Rehab RD) Service under Award Number IK2 RX003651, and by the Pennsylvania Department of Health under Cure Award Number 4100077083.

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Author notes

  1. William R. McBride and Caroline E. Conlan contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Rehab Medicine Service, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, 3900 Woodland Avenue, Mail Stop #117, Philadelphia, PA, 19104, USA

    William R. McBride & Randel L. Swanson

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    William R. McBride & Randel L. Swanson

  3. University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Caroline E. Conlan

  4. School of Osteopathic Medicine, Rowan University, Stratford, NJ, USA

    Nicole A. Barylski

  5. College of Arts and Sciences, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Amelie C. Warneryd

  6. Center for Neurotrauma, Neurodegeneration, and Restoration, Corporal Michael J. Crescenz VA Medical Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Randel L. Swanson

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  1. William R. McBride
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  2. Caroline E. Conlan
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  5. Randel L. Swanson
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Correspondence to Randel L. Swanson.

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McBride, W.R., Conlan, C.E., Barylski, N.A. et al. Blood Biomarkers in Brain Injury Medicine. Curr Phys Med Rehabil Rep 10, 114–121 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40141-022-00343-w

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