One of the main obstacles scientists face when dealing with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a brain disorder likely caused by repeated head injuries, is diagnosing it in the first place.
Currently, the only people who can definitively be diagnosed with CTE are those who are already dead, but a new research project called DIAGNOSE CTE Research Project-II aims to find a solution.
DxCTE-II is led by four principal investigators: Michael Alosco and Robert Stern, co-directors of clinical research at Boston University’s CTE Center, Gil Rabinovici, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco, and Eric Reiman, CEO of Banner Alzheimer’s Institute.
Last month, the National Institutes of Health awarded $15 million to DxCTE-II, which is a continuation of the first DIAGNOSE CTE research project that began in 2015, said Alosco, who also is a BU professor of neurology.
This first study provided an understanding of CTE biomarkers, which indicate the presence of a disease or medical condition, by analyzing patterns in the subjects’ MRI scans, cognition, memory and behavior, Alosco said.
The goal of the second project, DxCTE-II, is to follow the participants of the previous study over the next five years and find a way to diagnose CTE during life. The team hopes to receive more funding to expand the study period, Alosco said.
DxCTE-II is recruiting men who are 50 years or older and have either played college or professional football or have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and have not experienced repetitive head impacts.
Alosco said football players were chosen for their study because they are at higher risk for CTE.
Professional National Football League player Matt Hasselbeck is an ambassador for the project and vowed to celebrate his 50th birthday by participating in the study.
“I’m blessed to feel healthy now, but I know I’m at risk for CTE,” Hasselbeck said in an Instagram post from the Concussion Legacy Foundation. “So are my teammates, including those who took hits to the head blocking for me. I’m doing it for them, and I encourage former college and pro football players aged 50 and over to join me.”
Alosco said the study will also compare individuals at risk of CTE to those with Alzheimer’s disease because there is significant overlap between the two.
Reiman said the study’s results would reassure former football players about whether they have CTE and the potential trajectory of its progression.
“If we could find ways to measure the disease in life … we can begin to use those measures to help investigate a range of risk and protective factors that could help to inform what people do if they choose to engage in those contact sports,” he said.
Reiman added that learning more about what CTE looks like during life will also be helpful for people who have experienced repetitive head injuries as a result of other things, such as domestic violence.
Conor Gormally, co-founder and CEO of Concussion Alliance, a nonprofit aiming to create resources for those impacted by concussions, said many professional contact sport athletes are concerned about their future wellbeing.
“I’ve spoken with many patients who have had four, six, eight, ten [or] a dozen concussions and are very worried that these persisting symptoms that they’re struggling with might be CTE,” they said.
This fear can deter such patients from seeking rehabilitative care since there is currently no cure for CTE, they said.
Gormally said studying CTE’s risk factors can help advance research on not only CTE but all traumatic brain injuries.
Reiman said “one of the joys of working in this very important area” is supporting players and their families by discovering more about CTE.
“If you look at the [principal investigators] of this study, what we all have in common is a shared interest in this marriage between research and care, help and hope,” Reiman said.