Defining New Research Questions and Protocols in the Field of Traumatic Brain Injury through Public Engagement: Preliminary Results and Review of the Literature

Table 1

Biomarkers and their applications.

Biomarker	Key features	References
S100B	Serum concentrations >0.48 μg/L in <6 hours predictive of Glasgow Outcome Scale Extended (GOSE) scores of <5 (severe disability) at 1 month post injury; Extracerebral injuries have significant impact on predictive ability of S100B	[7, 11, 12]
GAL3	High plasma levels associated with GCS and in-hospital mortality	[8, 21]
Copeptin	Independent predictor of progressive haemorrhagic injury and acute traumatic coagulopathy and outcome at 1 year after injury	[23, 26]
NSE	>10 μg/L in <6 hours associated with headaches at 6 months; Elevated levels indicator of mortality	[7, 13, 14]
UCH-L1	Plasma and CSF levels shown to be elevated for several days and associated with diffuse injuries	[9, 22, 27]
GFAP	Elevations primarily found in patients with a focal mass lesion (V to Marshall VI); When Marshall is combined with GFAP, it produces superior sensitivity and specificity for TBI	[10, 22]
MMP9	Elevated levels up to 8 hours after TBI; smaller increase maintained at 24 hours	[8]
MBP	Serum concentrations peak 48–72 hours after injury and can remain elevated for 2 weeks; Potential biomarker of intracranial haemorrhage and axonal injury	[7, 15, 16, 18]
MAG	Strong predictors of functional outcome in mild TBI	[17]
Tau	Raised CSF levels associated with poor clinical outcome	[24]