Exploratory study of sport-related concussion effects on peripheral micro-RNA expression.
Adrian M Svingos, Breton M Asken, Russell M Bauer and 5 others
PMID 30704304WHAT IT FOUND
After sport-related concussion, three blood markers rose in athletes, but they did not consistently track symptoms, cognition, balance, or recovery time.
Participants with increased miR-let-7a-5p had slower ImPACT reaction time. This is exploratory and does not change clinical care.
Key findings
01After concussion, miR-153-3p, miR-223-3p, and miR-let-7a-5p increased, while miR-26a-5p and miR-423-3p did not change significantly.
02Changes in miRNA expression were not significantly associated with changes in clinical test scores or absolute post-concussion scores.
03Participants with increased miR-let-7a-5p expression had significantly slower ImPACT reaction time than participants with no change or decreased expression.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The study used only 23 to 27 athletes per marker, so it could not reliably detect small links to symptoms, cognition, balance, or recovery time. It examined only one blood draw after concussion, at a mean of 405.8 minutes after injury, so it cannot show how markers change over time. The miR-153-3p result is weak because 93% of baseline samples and 81% of post-concussion samples had very low detectable expression. The athletes were collegiate varsity players with a mean age of 18.8 years, so findings may not apply to children, older adults, or more severe brain injury. No marker change was significantly associated with clinical scores at the p < .01 threshold, and the slower reaction time finding was a secondary group comparison. The study looked at only five micro-RNA markers, and factors unrelated to brain injury may affect their expression.
Declared interests
The supplied publication types list research support from NIH, non-U.S. government, and U.S. government non-PHS sources. No author conflict-of-interest statement is given in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the rise in three blood markers as evidence that a blood test can diagnose or manage concussion. The study was exploratory, the marker changes did not track symptoms, cognition, balance, or recovery time at the stricter threshold, and the miR-153-3p finding relied on many samples with very low detectable expression.