Jussi Posti and coauthors from Turku University Hospital and
University of Turku (Finland), VTT Technical Research Center of Finland
(Tampere), and University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital (U.K.),
measured the levels of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and
ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase-L1 (UCH-L1) in patients at several time
points after acute orthopedic injuries.
‘Two proposed biomarkers for mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), GFAP and UCH-L1, were not able to identify patients with mTBI. This could lead to false-positive diagnoses and unnecessary brain imaging.’
The researchers compared the
levels to those in patients with computed tomography (CT)-negative mTBI.
They report the results in the article entitled "Glial Fibrillary
Acidic Protein and Ubiquitin C-Terminal Hydrolase-L1 Are Not Specific
Biomarkers for Mild CT-Negative Traumatic Brain Injury."
"This study represents another important contribution to the field of
biomarker discovery within the context of mild traumatic brain injury,"
says John T. Povlishock, Editor-in-Chief of
Journal of Neurotrauma.
"Although as noted by the authors, this study used platforms and assays
different from previous reports in the literature, the fundamental fact
remains that this study's findings emphasize the need for increased
vigilance when using GFAP and UCH-L-1 as potential biomarkers of mild
traumatic brain injury in a patient population that has sustained
concomitant orthopedic injury."
Source: Eurekalert
