Advancing CTE Diagnosis

A new study from BU’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Center offers insight into diagnosing CTE while a person is still living.

CTE is commonly found during autopsies on athletes like football and soccer players who endure frequent blows to the head. But how is it connected to a range of cognitive, behavioral, and neurological symptoms—or is it connected at all? The BU study is helping to answer these questions. “For the first time, we were able to show a clear dose-response relationship between the amount of CTE pathology and the severity of cognitive and functional symptoms, including problems with memory and executive function,” says Jesse Mez, CTE Center codirector of clinical research, associate professor of neurology, and coauthor of the study.

The research team measured a protein called p-tau across 10 different brain regions in 364 brains with CTE that were donated to BU’s UNITE Brain Bank. They asked family and friends of the brain donors for insights on their loved one’s cognitive, functional, mood, and behavioral symptoms.

“These findings provide a clear step forward toward diagnosing CTE in life.”

—JESSE MEZ

These symptoms had a direct correlation to the presence of the p-tau protein, the study found. And p-tau in the frontal lobe was associated with some neurobehavioral symptoms—like the reduced ability to control impulses and self-monitor behavior—but overall, there was a higher correlation between cognition than neurobehavior.

The team understands the vast importance of these findings, along with the need to create a more robust analysis. “This can offer valuable information,” says study coauthor Michael Alosco, CTE Center codirector of clinical research and associate professor of neurology. “But we need to move toward a model where we objectively assess individuals during life and follow them until brain donation.”

As the research continues, there is new hope for potential therapies to help CTE patients before it’s too late. “These findings provide a clear step forward toward diagnosing CTE in life,” says Mez.