Svirsky Sarah E, Wood Christopher C, Raymond Olivia, McIntyre Peyton, Appleton Hannah, Wagner Chelsea, Gill Jessica, Puccio Ava M
Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA.
School of Nursing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Neurotrauma Rep. 2025 Aug 25;6(1):700-705. doi: 10.1177/08977151251367345. eCollection 2025.
The sports medicine community and society at large have recognized traumatic brain injury (TBI) as a major public health concern. It is estimated that more than 150 million youths have played football in the United States. As an alternative to blood, sweat is a potential source for protein biomarkers, providing a non-invasive method for objective measurements for head safety guidelines. This pilot study explores sweat as a means of detecting protein biomarkers of brain injury before and after a football season. Participants were football players from an NCAA Division III college ( = 34 pre-season, = 18 post-season). At pre- and post-season time points, demographic, injury history, and physical activity assessments were conducted, including application of a non-invasive sweat patch for approximately 24 h. Sweat protein biomarkers total-tau, neurofilament light, glial fibrillary acidic protein, and ubiquitin carboxyl-terminal hydrolase L1 (UCH-L1) were measured via immunoarray. Paired and un-paired non-parametric statistical analyses were conducted. Athletes reported little to no concussion injuries from the season and experienced minimal symptoms. There was a significant increase in pre-season GFAP and UCH-L1 protein levels in athletes with a history of TBI compared to those without. Comparing between pre- and post-season, there was an increase in total-tau and UCH-L1 levels. These data suggest that sweat may be a viable biofluid to assess head injury using hallmark TBI biomarkers.
运动医学领域和整个社会都已认识到创伤性脑损伤（TBI）是一个重大的公共卫生问题。据估计，在美国有超过1.5亿年轻人踢过足球。作为血液的替代物，汗液是蛋白质生物标志物的潜在来源，为头部安全指南的客观测量提供了一种非侵入性方法。这项初步研究探索了汗液作为检测足球赛季前后脑损伤蛋白质生物标志物的一种手段。参与者是来自一所美国国家大学体育协会（NCAA）第三分部大学的足球运动员（季前赛时n = 34，赛季后n = 18）。在季前赛和赛季后时间点，进行了人口统计学、损伤史和身体活动评估，包括应用非侵入性汗液贴片约24小时。通过免疫阵列测量汗液蛋白质生物标志物总tau蛋白、神经丝轻链、胶质纤维酸性蛋白和泛素羧基末端水解酶L1（UCH-L1）。进行了配对和非配对非参数统计分析。运动员报告该赛季几乎没有脑震荡损伤，且症状轻微。与没有TBI病史的运动员相比，有TBI病史的运动员在季前赛时GFAP和UCH-L1蛋白水平显著升高。比较季前赛和赛季后，总tau蛋白和UCH-L1水平有所增加。这些数据表明，汗液可能是一种可行的生物流体，可利用标志性TBI生物标志物来评估头部损伤。
