TY - JOUR
T1 - Salivary MicroRNAs
T2 - Diagnostic Markers of Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in Contact-Sport
AU - Di Pietro, Valentina
AU - Porto, Edoardo
AU - Ragusa, Marco
AU - Barbagallo, Cristina
AU - Davies, David
AU - Forcione, Mario
AU - Logan, Ann
AU - Di Pietro, Cinzia
AU - Purrello, Michele
AU - Grey, Michael
AU - Hammond, Douglas
AU - Sawlani, Vijay
AU - Barbey, Aron K.
AU - Belli, Antonio
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Di Pietro, Porto, Ragusa, Barbagallo, Davies, Forcione, Logan, Di Pietro, Purrello, Grey, Hammond, Sawlani, Barbey and Belli.
PY - 2018/8/20
Y1 - 2018/8/20
N2 - Concussion is difficult to diagnose, particularly when symptoms are atypical or late in presenting. An accurate and timely initial assessment is crucial for clinical management. Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and blood markers of traumatic brain injury show promising results but their clinical applicability in concussion has significant limitations. In the study, we explored saliva as a new source of biomarkers of concussion. Saliva samples of concussed players were collected after 48–72 h from concussion and analyzed by high-throughput technologies. A discovery group of 10 concussed rugby professional and semiprofessional athletes and 10 non-concussed matched controls was used for the analysis of 92 inflammatory proteins by the Proseek-Multiplex-Inflammation technology. In addition, saliva samples of 6 concussed and 6 non-concussed athletes were used to screen 800 human microRNAs (miRNAs) by the Nanostring Technology. The results were then validated by RT-qPCR in an enlarged cohort (validation group) comprising 22 concussed athletes. Results showed, no significant variations of the 65 inflammatory proteins detected in saliva between groups but 5 microRNAs, miR-27b-3p (p = 0.016), let-7i-5p (p = 0.001), miR-142-3p (p = 0.008), miR-107 (p = 0.028), miR-135b-5p (p = 0.017) significantly upregulated in concussed athletes. Univariate ROC curve analysis showed that the differentially expressed miRNAs could be considered good classifiers of concussion. Further analyses showed significant correlation between these microRNAs and Reaction Time component of the ImPACT concussion assessment tool. In addition, biocomputation analysis predicted the involvement of these microRNAs in important biological processes that might be related to trauma, such as response to hypoxia, cell death, neurogenesis, axon repair and myelination. Ease of access and non-invasiveness of saliva samples make these biomarkers particularly suitable for concussion assessment.
AB - Concussion is difficult to diagnose, particularly when symptoms are atypical or late in presenting. An accurate and timely initial assessment is crucial for clinical management. Cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) and blood markers of traumatic brain injury show promising results but their clinical applicability in concussion has significant limitations. In the study, we explored saliva as a new source of biomarkers of concussion. Saliva samples of concussed players were collected after 48–72 h from concussion and analyzed by high-throughput technologies. A discovery group of 10 concussed rugby professional and semiprofessional athletes and 10 non-concussed matched controls was used for the analysis of 92 inflammatory proteins by the Proseek-Multiplex-Inflammation technology. In addition, saliva samples of 6 concussed and 6 non-concussed athletes were used to screen 800 human microRNAs (miRNAs) by the Nanostring Technology. The results were then validated by RT-qPCR in an enlarged cohort (validation group) comprising 22 concussed athletes. Results showed, no significant variations of the 65 inflammatory proteins detected in saliva between groups but 5 microRNAs, miR-27b-3p (p = 0.016), let-7i-5p (p = 0.001), miR-142-3p (p = 0.008), miR-107 (p = 0.028), miR-135b-5p (p = 0.017) significantly upregulated in concussed athletes. Univariate ROC curve analysis showed that the differentially expressed miRNAs could be considered good classifiers of concussion. Further analyses showed significant correlation between these microRNAs and Reaction Time component of the ImPACT concussion assessment tool. In addition, biocomputation analysis predicted the involvement of these microRNAs in important biological processes that might be related to trauma, such as response to hypoxia, cell death, neurogenesis, axon repair and myelination. Ease of access and non-invasiveness of saliva samples make these biomarkers particularly suitable for concussion assessment.
KW - Biomarkers
KW - Concussion
KW - MicroRNA
KW - Mild traumatic brain injury
KW - Saliva
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85054863606&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85054863606&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00290
DO - 10.3389/fnmol.2018.00290
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85054863606
SN - 1662-5099
VL - 11
JO - Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
JF - Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience
M1 - 290
ER -