PMID- 36111130 OWN - NLM STAT- PubMed-not-MEDLINE LR - 20220917 IS - 2055-7647 (Print) IS - 2055-7647 (Electronic) IS - 2055-7647 (Linking) VI - 8 IP - 3 DP - 2022 TI - Fluid biomarkers and risk of neurodegenerative disease in retired athletes with multiple concussions: results from the International Concussion and Head Injury Research Foundation Brain health in Retired athletes Study of Ageing and Impact-Related Neurodegenerative Disease (ICHIRF-BRAIN study). PG - e001327 LID - 10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001327 [doi] LID - e001327 AB - OBJECTIVES: To investigate the association and utility of blood plasma markers of neurodegeneration in a population of retired athletes self-reporting multiple concussions throughout a sporting career. It is hypothesised that this type of athletic history would cause an increased prevalence of neurodegenerative disease, as detected by biomarkers for neurodegenerative disease processes. METHODS: One hundred and fifty-nine participants were recruited (90 males, 69 females, mean age 61.3+/-9.13 years), including 121 participants who had retired from playing professional or semiprofessional sports and self-reported >/=1 concussion during their careers (range 1-74; mean concussions=10.7). The control group included 38 age-matched and sex-matched controls, with no history of concussion. We measured neurofilament light (NfL) and tau (neurodegeneration markers), glial fibrillar acidic protein (GFAP) (astrocytic activation marker) and 40 and 42 amino acid-long amyloid beta (Abeta40 and Abeta42) (Alzheimer-associated amyloid pathology markers) concentrations using ultrasensitive single molecule array technology. RESULTS: We found retired athletes reporting one or more concussions throughout an athletic career showed no significant changes in NfL, tau, GFAP and Abeta40 and Abeta42 concentrations in comparison to a control group. No correlations were found between biomarkers and number of concussions (mean=10.7). A moderate correlation was found between NfL concentration and age. CONCLUSION: No difference in blood concentrations of neurodegeneration markers NfL, tau, GFAP and Abeta40 and Abeta42 was found in retired athletes with a history of concussion compared with controls. An increased prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases is not detected by biomarkers in a population self-reporting multiple concussions. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN 11312093. CI - (c) Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2022. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. FAU - Swann, Owen James AU - Swann OJ AUID- ORCID: 0000-0002-1464-0274 AD - UK Dementia Research Institute Fluid Biomarker Laboratory, University College London, London, UK. FAU - Turner, Michael AU - Turner M AD - International Concussion and Head Injury Research Foundation, London, UK. FAU - Heslegrave, Amanda AU - Heslegrave A AD - UK Dementia Research Institute Fluid Biomarker Laboratory, University College London, London, UK. AD - Department of Neurodegenerative Diseases, University College London, London, UK. FAU - Zetterberg, Henrik AU - Zetterberg H AD - UK Dementia Research Institute Fluid Biomarker Laboratory, University College London, London, UK. AD - Department of Psychiatry and Neurochemistry, University of Gothenburg, Molndal, Sweden. LA - eng PT - Journal Article DEP - 20220901 PL - England TA - BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med JT - BMJ open sport & exercise medicine JID - 101681007 PMC - PMC9438045 OTO - NOTNLM OT - Athlete OT - Brain OT - Concussion OT - Horse racing COIS- Competing interests: MT is employed as CEO and Medical Director of the International Concussion and Head Injury Research Foundation (ICHIRF) and was formerly employed as the Chief Medical Adviser to the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) and the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). He is Honorary Medical Adviser to the Professional Jockeys Insurance Scheme (PRIS) for which he receives a discretionary honorarium. ICHIRF is a not-for-profit organisation. He undertakes no clinical duties but has been reimbursed for travel and accommodation at conferences, symposia and scientific meetings by the organisers. He does not hold any shares in any company related to concussion or brain injury assessment or technology. HZ has served at scientific advisory boards and/or as a consultant for AbbVie, Alector, Annexon, Artery Therapeutics, AZTherapies, CogRx, Denali, Eisai, Nervgen, Pinteon Therapeutics, Red Abbey Labs, Passage Bio, Roche, Samumed, Siemens Healthineers, Triplet Therapeutics and Wave; has given lectures in symposia sponsored by Cellectricon, Fujirebio, Alzecure, Biogen and Roche; and is a co-founder of Brain Biomarker Solutions (BBS) in Gothenburg, which is a part of the GU Ventures Incubator Program (outside submitted work). HZ is a Wallenberg Scholar supported by grants from the Swedish Research Council (2018-02532), the European Research Council (681712), Swedish State Support for Clinical Research (ALFGBG-720931), the Alzheimer Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF), USA (201809-2016862), the AD Strategic Fund and the Alzheimer's Association (ADSF-21-831376-C, ADSF-21-831381-C and ADSF-21-831377-C), the Olav Thon Foundation, the Erling-Persson Family Foundation, Stiftelsen for Gamla Tjanarinnor, Hjarnfonden, Sweden (FO2019-0228), the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement number 860197 (MIRIADE), European Union Joint Program for Neurodegenerative Disorders (JPND2021-00694) and the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL. EDAT- 2022/09/17 06:00 MHDA- 2022/09/17 06:01 PMCR- 2022/09/01 CRDT- 2022/09/16 02:43 PHST- 2022/08/17 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2022/09/16 02:43 [entrez] PHST- 2022/09/17 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2022/09/17 06:01 [medline] PHST- 2022/09/01 00:00 [pmc-release] AID - bmjsem-2022-001327 [pii] AID - 10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001327 [doi] PST - epublish SO - BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2022 Sep 1;8(3):e001327. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2022-001327. eCollection 2022.