MicroRNAs as potential biomarkers for the diagnosis of traumatic brain injury: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a sudden trauma on the head, commonly associated with death and long-term disability. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are potential biomarkers of diverse diseases, including TBI. However, few systematic reviews and meta-analyses have been conducted to determine the clinical value of miRNAs expression in TBI patients.Methods: We did a comprehensive literature search to identify articles that have reported on the diagnostic and prognostic value of miRNAs expression in TBI patients.Results: Six studies investating the diagnostic value of miRNA in TBI were analyzed in this study. The overall sensitivity, specificity and area under the curve (AUC) of miRNAs in diagnosis of TBI were 92% [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.87–0.95]; 92% (95% CI 0.78–0.97) and 96% (95% CI 0.94–0.97), respectively. We found that panels of multiple miRNAs could improve the diagnostic accuracy of TBI. Compared to saliva, detected samples like blood and brain tissue could significantly enhance diagnostic accuracy. Besides, the AUC of miRNAs in severe TBI was 0.97, with 92% sensitivity and 92% specificity.Conclusions: This systematic review and meta-analysis demonstrated that miRNAs could be potential diagnostic markers in TBI patients. MiRNAs detected in blood and brain tissue display high accuracy for TBI diagnosis.

Review: Emerging Eye-Based Diagnostic Technologies for Traumatic Brain Injury

“…t-tau levels are elevated at various injury severities 174,203 , and in association with DAI 83,216 , as early as 1 hour after TBI and correlated with positive findings on CT 185,217 , as well as self-reported symptoms after mild TBI 66 . Micro RNA (miRNAs) are small molecules that contribute to gene expression regulation, blood, CSF and brain tissue levels 184,189,[218][219][220][221][222] . It has been demonstrated that miRNA expression is altered across all TBI severities over time periods ranging from 1 hour to several days posttrauma 184,223,224 .…”