Hundreds of Genes Influence Brain Injury Outcomes and Recovery
Published July 2017 | Journal of Neurotrauma
By combining a medical literature search with a systems biology approach to traumatic brain injury (TBI), researchers at Cincinnati Children’s have identified 377 genes—299 of them considered “novel” genes—associated with TBI outcomes and recovery.
The discovery, according to Brad Kurowski, MD, MS, Director of the Brain Injury Rehabilitation Program, indicates that current thinking about how the brain recovers from TBI “is not as simple as we’ve thought. There may be multiple, complex systems that contribute to recovery at different times, and there may be TBI-related genes that we haven’t even considered.”
According to federal health data, nearly 2,700 children die annually from TBI. Brain injuries also account for 37,000 hospitalizations and 435,000 emergency visits a year.
The new study builds on previous understanding that genes linked to TBI align along two overarching biologic processes: response to injury, which governs activities such as cell proliferation and inflammatory response; and neuro-cognitive reserve, which focuses on brain development, cognition and behavior.
Expanding on these cues, Anil Jegga, DVM, MRes, from the Division of Biomedical Informatics, used a “guilt-by-association” analysis to rank candidate genes potentially related to TBI recovery. This approach not only revealed gene groups that were already known to act together but also novel associations. Jegga used ToppGene, a web-based suite of computational tools, for this analysis.
The findings indicate that certain genes involved in neurologic injury and inflammation might be more important soon after a severe injury, while cognitive and behavioral process genes might be more salient later in recovery. The researchers plan to continue exploring the gene patterns associated with TBI. Eventually, this approach “could transform management strategies for TBI,” Kurowski says.
