Researchers this month said they’ve discovered blood biomarkers linked to neurodegenerative brain trauma in former NFL players, using technology developed by Aethlon Medical (OTC:AEMD) subsidiary Exosome Sciences.
Dr. Robert Stern, a professor of neurobiology, neurosurgery and anatomy and neurobiology at the Boston University School of Medicine, presented the unpublished findings April 16 at the 5th Annual Traumatic Brain Injury Conference in Washington, D.C.
Exosome Sciences researchers studied blood samples from 78 former NFL players and 16 control subjects. They found elevated levels of tausomes in the blood of the NFL players, compared to the control subjects. What’s more, the higher the tausome level, the worse the memory performance, Aethlon said.
Tausomes are tau proteins that can indicate chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a neurodegenerative disease connected to repetitive brain trauma. Typically CTC, which has been linked to repeated concussion of the brain, is only diagnosable after death by examining brain tissue.
Exosome, working with the Detect study, has been isolating microscopic exosomes that transport tausomes across the blood brain barrier. The Detect study is part of a National Institutes of Health-funded study being conducted at the BU school’s CTE program, looking for potential CTE biomarkers in retired American football players.