Cited by 155Extracellular vesicles in diseaseTraumatic Brain Injury ResearchAlzheimer's disease research and treatments

Preliminary Study of Plasma Exosomal Tau as a Potential Biomarker for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy

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Stern, Robert A., Tripodis, Yorghos, Baugh, Christine M., Fritts, Nathan G., Martin, Brett M., Chaisson, Christine, Cantu, Robert C., Joyce, James A. +5 more·2016·Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease

Abstract

Background: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a tauopathy associated with prior exposure to repetitive head impacts, such as those incurred through American football and other collision sports. Diagnosis is made through neuropathological examination. Many of the clinical features of CTE are common in the general population, with and without a history of head impact exposure, making clinical diagnosis difficult. As is now common in the diagnosis of other neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease, there is a need for methods to diagnose CTE during life through objective biomarkers. Objective: The aim of this study was to examine tau-positive exosomes in plasma as a potential CTE biomarker. Methods: Subjects were 78 former National Football League (NFL) players and 16 controls. Extracellular vesicles were isolated from plasma. Fluorescent nanoparticle tracking analysis was used to determine the number of vesicles staining positive for tau. Results: The NFL group had higher exosomal tau than the control group ( p < 0.0001). Exosomal tau discriminated between the groups, with 82% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% positive predictive value, and 53% negative predictive value. Within the NFL group, higher exosomal tau was associated with worse performance on tests of memory ( p = 0.0126) and psychomotor speed ( p = 0.0093). Conclusion: These preliminary findings suggest that exosomal tau in plasma may be an accurate, noninvasive CTE biomarker.

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  • Recent findings show elevated p-Tau within neuronally enriched EVs in TBI subjects.

    “Recent findings of elevated p-Tau within neuronally enriched EVs in TBI subjects highlight the dynamic processes and time-dependent mechanisms at play in TBI [185, 187, 188].”

    From Extracellular vesicles as nanotheranostic platforms for targeted neurological disorder interventions (2024) · cites this paper as [188]

    The Results report elevated plasma exosomal tau in former NFL players compared with controls. However, the Discussion says the isolation method did not identify the exosomes’ cells of origin and could not distinguish neuronal from non-neuronal sources. The study measured tau, not specifically phosphorylated tau (p-tau), and studied symptomatic former players with repetitive head-impact exposure rather than TBI subjects generally. (LLM, conf=0.90)

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Authors
Stern, R. A., Tripodis, Y., Baugh, C. M., Fritts, N. G., Martin, B. M., Chaisson, C., Cantu, R. C., Joyce, J. A., Shah, S., Ikezu, T., Zhang, J., Gercel-Taylor, C., & Taylor, D. D.
Affiliations
  • Boston University (US)
  • Aethlon Medical (United States) (US)
  • Exosome Sciences, San Diego, USA
  • University of Washington (US)
Corresponding author
Stern, Robert A.
Venue
Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease
Published
2016-02-10
Volume
51
Issue
4
Pages
1099-1109
ISSN
  • 1387-2877 (ISSN-L)
  • 1875-8908
OpenAlex
W2284769570
Cited by
155
References
18
Citations by year
2026: 4 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 11 · 2022: 20 · 2021: 14 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 17 · 2018: 25 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 8
FWCI
11.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Alzheimer s Disease (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Football League Players Association
  • National Institutes of Health (R01 NS, AG13846)
  • National Institute on Aging (P30AG019610, P30AG013846, P30-AG13846))
  • National Institute of Mental Health (T32MH019733)
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (R56NS078337, U01NS093334, R01NS078337)
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Extracellular vesicles in disease
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Traumatic Brain Injury Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
Keywords
chronic traumatic encephalopathy
MeSH terms
Extracellular Vesicles, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, Adult, Aged, Analysis of Variance, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Plasma, Case-Control Studies, tau Proteins

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