Zhang Zhen, Lobb Richard J, Lane Rebecca E, To Xuan Vinh, Niu Xueming, Antaw Fiach, Pietrogrande Giovanni, Winter Craig, Wuethrich Alain, Nasrallah Fatima, Trau Matt
Centre for Personalized Nanomedicine, Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia.
The Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, QLD, 4067, Australia.
Small Methods. 2025 Jul;9(7):e2401931. doi: 10.1002/smtd.202401931. Epub 2025 May 19.
Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) triggers secondary molecular processes that contribute to mortality and morbidity. Neuroinflammation is a key factor affecting patient outcomes both acutely and chronically. Traditional diagnostic tools, such as computed tomography imaging and the Glasgow Coma Scale, are limited in detecting molecular changes, particularly related to neuroinflammation. Small extracellular vesicles (sEVs) are cell-specific vesicles that enable cell-to-cell communication and are involved in TBI pathology. In this study, brain-specific sEVs are isolated by targeting brain-associated markers, sodium/potassium-transporting ATPase subunit beta-2 (ATP1B2) and excitatory amino acid transporter 2 (EAAT2), and employed surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy to profile inflammation-associated cytokine chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 2 (CCL2) bound to single sEV, allowing for blood-based monitoring of neuroinflammation. This approach enabled the direct assessment of neuroinflammation in both human TBI samples and a controlled cortical injury in a rat model. This study found elevated brain-specific sEVs with enhanced CCL2 in TBI samples compared to non-TBI cohorts. The results suggest that the TBI diagnostic platform can detect an increased level of brain-specific sEVs carrying neuroinflammatory signals in TBI clinical samples with high specificity and sensitivity, offering potential as a precise diagnostic tool for TBI diagnosis.
创伤性脑损伤(TBI)会引发导致死亡率和发病率的继发性分子过程。神经炎症是急性和慢性影响患者预后的关键因素。传统的诊断工具,如计算机断层扫描成像和格拉斯哥昏迷量表,在检测分子变化方面存在局限性,尤其是与神经炎症相关的变化。小细胞外囊泡(sEVs)是细胞特异性囊泡,能够实现细胞间通讯,并参与TBI病理过程。在本研究中,通过靶向脑相关标志物钠/钾转运ATP酶亚基β-2(ATP1B2)和兴奋性氨基酸转运体2(EAAT2)分离脑特异性sEVs,并采用表面增强拉曼光谱对与单个sEV结合的炎症相关细胞因子趋化因子(C-C基序)配体2(CCL2)进行分析,从而实现基于血液的神经炎症监测。这种方法能够直接评估人类TBI样本和大鼠模型中控制性皮质损伤的神经炎症。本研究发现,与非TBI队列相比,TBI样本中脑特异性sEVs升高且CCL2增强。结果表明,TBI诊断平台能够以高特异性和敏感性检测TBI临床样本中携带神经炎症信号的脑特异性sEVs水平升高,具有作为TBI诊断精确工具的潜力。