Objective This study examined whether serum levels of GFAP breakdown products (GFAP-BDP) were elevated in mild and moderate TBI compared to controls and if they were associated with traumatic intracranial lesions on CT scan (+CT) and having a neurosurgical intervention (NSI). Methods This prospective cohort study enrolled adult patients presenting to three Level 1 Trauma Centers following blunt head trauma with loss of consciousness, amnesia, or disorientation and a GCS 9–15. Control groups included normal uninjured controls and trauma controls presenting to the ED with orthopedic injuries or an MVC without TBI. Blood samples were obtained in all patients within 4 hours of injury and measured by ELISA for GFAP-BDP (ng/ml). Results Of the 307 patients enrolled, 108 were TBI patients (97 with GCS 13–15, and 11 with GCS 9–12) and 199 were controls (176 normal controls and 16 MVC controls and 7 orthopedic controls). ROC curves demonstrated that early GFAP-BDP levels were able to distinguish TBI from uninjured controls with an AUC of 0.90 (95%CI 0.86–0.94) and differentiated TBI with a GCS 15 with an AUC 0.88 (95%CI 0.82–0.93). Thirty two TBI patients (30%) had lesions on CT. The AUC for discriminating those patients with CT lesions versus those without CT lesions was 0.79 (95%CI 0.69–0.89). Moreover, the ROC curve for distinguishing NSI from no NSI yielded an AUC of 0.87 (95%CI 0.77–0.96). Conclusions GFAP-BDP is detectable in serum within an hour of injury and is associated with measures of injury severity including the GCS score, CT lesions and neurosurgical intervention. Further study is required to validate these findings before clinical application.

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Objective Ubiquitin C-terminal hydrolase (UCH-L1), also called neuronal-specific protein gene product (PGP 9.3), is highly abundant in neurons. To assess the reliability of UCH-L1 as a potential biomarker for traumatic brain injury (TBI) this study compared cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) levels of UCH-L1 from adult patients with severe TBI to uninjured controls; and examined the relationship between levels with severity of injury, complications and functional outcome. Design This study was designed as prospective case control study. Patients This study enrolled 66 patients, 41 with severe TBI, defined by a Glasgow coma scale (GCS) score of ≤8, who underwent intraventricular intracranial pressure monitoring and 25 controls without TBI requiring CSF drainage for other medical reasons. Setting Two hospital system level I trauma centers. Measurements and Main Results Ventricular CSF was sampled from each patient at 6, 12, 24, 48, 72, 96, 120, 144, and 168 hrs following TBI and analyzed for UCH-L1. Injury severity was assessed by the GCS score, Marshall Classification on computed tomography and a complicated postinjury course. Mortality was assessed at 6 wks and long-term outcome was assessed using the Glasgow outcome score 6 months after injury. TBI patients had significantly elevated CSF levels of UCH-L1 at each time point after injury compared to uninjured controls. Overall mean levels of UCH-L1 in TBI patients was 44.2 ng/mL (±7.9) compared with 2.7 ng/mL (±0.7) in controls (p <.001). There were significantly higher levels of UCH-L1 in patients with a lower GCS score at 24 hrs, in those with postinjury complications, in those with 6-wk mortality, and in those with a poor 6-month dichotomized Glasgow outcome score. Conclusions These data suggest that this novel biomarker has the potential to determine injury severity in TBI patients. Further studies are needed to validate these findings in a larger sample.