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Cited by 18Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular DisturbancesTraumatic Brain Injury ResearchComplement system in diseases

Elevated Serum Complement C1q Levels After Traumatic Brain Injury and Its Association with Poor Prognosis

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Yan, Xin-Jiang, Li, Yang-Bo, Liu, Wei, Wu, Hua-Yong, Yu, Guo-Feng·2022·Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
DOI 10.2147/ndt.s348682PMC PMC8754467
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Complement C1q is implicated in neuroinflammation. We intended to discern the relationship between serum C1q levels and severity in addition to prognosis following traumatic brain injury (TBI). METHODS: In this prospective, observational study, serum C1q levels were quantified in 188 TBI patients and 188 healthy controls. Glasgow coma scale (GCS) and Rotterdam computed tomography (CT) classification were used as clinical and radiological indicators of severity. Patients with extended Glasgow outcome scale (GOSE) score of 1-4 at 6 months after trauma were considered to have a poor outcome. Multiple logistic regression model was built to ascertain the independent association of serum C1q levels with 6-month poor outcome. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was configured for analysis of prognostic capability with respect to serum C1q levels. RESULTS: TBI patients exhibited substantially higher serum C1q levels than controls (median, 223.9 mg/l versus 75.4 mg/l). Serum C1q levels of patients were tightly correlated with GCS score (r = -0.671), Rotterdam CT classification (r = 0.604) and GOSE score (r = -0.581). An area under the ROC curve was yielded of 0.793 (95% confidence interval = 0.728-0.849), and serum C1q levels above 345.5 mg/l discriminated the risk of 6-month poor outcome with 59.6% sensitivity and 92.6% specificity. Serum C1q levels above 345.5 mg/l retained as an independent predictor for 6-month poor outcome with odds ratio of 4.922 (95% confidence interval = 1.552-15.606; P = 0.017). CONCLUSION: Elevated serum C1q levels are closely correlated with traumatic severity and independently predicted the risk of long-term poor prognosis after TBI.

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  • C1qa is associated with microglial activation after traumatic brain injury.

    “For instance, Tmem119 expression is significantly reduced in activated microglia in AD, whereas C1qa is associated with microglial activation after traumatic brain injury[49–51].”

    From Comparative analysis of nuclei isolation methods for brain single-nucleus RNA sequencing (2026) · cites this paper as [50]

    The Discussion reports increased C1q expression after experimental traumatic brain injury, localized in part to microglia, and describes C1q effects on cultured microglial cells. It does not establish that C1qa expression is associated specifically with microglial activation after traumatic brain injury; the paper's own TBI measurements concern serum C1q. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Tmem119 expression is significantly reduced in activated microglia in AD.

    “For instance, Tmem119 expression is significantly reduced in activated microglia in AD, whereas C1qa is associated with microglial activation after traumatic brain injury[49–51].”

    From Comparative analysis of nuclei isolation methods for brain single-nucleus RNA sequencing (2026) · cites this paper as [50]

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Yan, X.-J., Li, Y.-B., Liu, W., Wu, H.-Y., & Yu, G.-F.
Affiliations
Wenzhou Medical University (CN)
Corresponding author
Yu, Guo-Feng
ORCID
Liu, Wei
Venue
Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
Publisher
Informa UK Limited
Published
2022-01
Volume
Volume 18
Pages
47-55
ISSN
  • 1176-6328 (ISSN-L)
  • 1178-2021
DOI
10.2147/ndt.s348682
PMC
PMC8754467
OpenAlex
W4205495763
Cited by
18
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 4
FWCI
2.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Dove Medical Press (Taylor and Francis Group) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc)
Funders
Wenzhou Medical University
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Neurology › Traumatic Brain Injury and Neurovascular Disturbances
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Complement system in diseases
Keywords
C1q, traumatic brain injury, serum biomarkers, prognosis, neuroinflammation, injury severity, Glasgow Coma Scale, Glasgow Outcome Scale, long-term outcomes

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