Unique diagnostic signatures of concussion in the saliva of male athletes : the Study of Concussion in Rugby Union through MicroRNAs (SCRUM)

© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ..

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of salivary small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) in the diagnosis of sport-related concussion.

METHODS: Saliva was obtained from male professional players in the top two tiers of England's elite rugby union competition across two seasons (2017-2019). Samples were collected preseason from 1028 players, and during standardised head injury assessments (HIAs) at three time points (in-game, post-game, and 36-48 hours post-game) from 156 of these. Samples were also collected from controls (102 uninjured players and 66 players sustaining a musculoskeletal injury). Diagnostic sncRNAs were identified with next generation sequencing and validated using quantitative PCR in 702 samples. A predictive logistic regression model was built on 2017-2018 data (training dataset) and prospectively validated the following season (test dataset).

RESULTS: The HIA process confirmed concussion in 106 players (HIA+) and excluded this in 50 (HIA-). 32 sncRNAs were significantly differentially expressed across these two groups, with let-7f-5p showing the highest area under the curve (AUC) at 36-48 hours. Additionally, a combined panel of 14 sncRNAs (let-7a-5p, miR-143-3p, miR-103a-3p, miR-34b-3p, RNU6-7, RNU6-45, Snora57, snoU13.120, tRNA18Arg-CCT, U6-168, U6-428, U6-1249, Uco22cjg1,YRNA_255) could differentiate concussed subjects from all other groups, including players who were HIA- and controls, immediately after the game (AUC 0.91, 95% CI 0.81 to 1) and 36-48 hours later (AUC 0.94, 95% CI 0.86 to 1). When prospectively tested, the panel confirmed high predictive accuracy (AUC 0.96, 95% CI 0.92 to 1 post-game and AUC 0.93, 95% CI 0.86 to 1 at 36-48 hours).

CONCLUSIONS: SCRUM, a large prospective observational study of non-invasive concussion biomarkers, has identified unique signatures of concussion in saliva of male athletes diagnosed with concussion.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2021

Erschienen:

2021

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:55

Enthalten in:

British journal of sports medicine - 55(2021), 24 vom: 23. Dez., Seite 1395-1404

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Di Pietro, Valentina [VerfasserIn]
O'Halloran, Patrick [VerfasserIn]
Watson, Callum N [VerfasserIn]
Begum, Ghazala [VerfasserIn]
Acharjee, Animesh [VerfasserIn]
Yakoub, Kamal M [VerfasserIn]
Bentley, Conor [VerfasserIn]
Davies, David J [VerfasserIn]
Iliceto, Paolo [VerfasserIn]
Candilera, Gabriella [VerfasserIn]
Menon, David K [VerfasserIn]
Cross, Matthew J [VerfasserIn]
Stokes, Keith A [VerfasserIn]
Kemp, Simon Pt [VerfasserIn]
Belli, Antonio [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Brain
Concussion
Contact sports
Diagnosis
Journal Article
MicroRNAs
Observational Study
Trauma

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 03.12.2021

Date Revised 31.05.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1136/bjsports-2020-103274

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM323142230