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 The projects, partly funded by the National Football League, are
aimed at chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a condition
linked to the loss of decision-making control, aggression and
dementia. The condition is tied to repeated hits to the head, such
as those experienced by football players, hockey players and boxers.
The condition currently can be diagnosed only by examining a
person's brain after their death. But researchers with the National
Institutes of Health aim to develop tests to detect and treat CTE
while the patient is alive.
"This is a public health problem," said Walter Koroshetz, deputy
director of the NIH's National Institute of Neurological Disorders
and Stroke. "We don't know the mechanics of the head injuries that
lead to this, the number and severity that is required to get this.
We don't know whether certain people based on their genes are more
susceptible or not. There are a lot of questions to be answered."
The NFL in August agreed to pay up to $765 million to settle a
lawsuit brought by thousands of former players, many suffering from
dementia and other health problems, who accused the league of
covering up the risks of brain injury.
The league is paying $12 million of the allocated $14 million in
research, the rest of which will be funded by the NIH. The $14
million comes from $30 million in research funding the NFL made
available to the NIH in 2012.
The research is not focused just on football players, but any people
who engage in activities in which they suffered head injury.
Researchers say they also hope to better understand the potential
relationship between traumatic brain injury and late-life
neurodegenerative disorders, especially Alzheimer's disease.
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Two of the new research projects will focus on defining the
long-term changes that occur in the brain years after a head
injury or after multiple concussions. Ten neuropathologists from
eight universities will work to describe the chronic effects of
head injury in tissue taken from hundreds of individuals as they
try to develop standards for diagnosis.
Six pilot projects will aim to identify potential biomarkers
that can be used to track a person's recovery from concussion.
One of the pilot projects will focus on sports concussions in
adolescents. Researchers will examine the effects of
sports-related concussions on brain structure and function one
month following injury in adolescents who have been cleared to
resume playing their chosen sports.
Previous published research has found that former American
football players have higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases
such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. There has also been
violent and erratic behavior noted among current and former NFL
players, including a spate of suicides.
This month, the family of former Kansas City Chiefs' linebacker
Jovan Belcher had his body exhumed so his brain could be studied
for signs of CTE. Belcher killed his girlfriend and then himself
last year.
Also earlier this month, five former players for the Kansas City
Chiefs football team sued the Chiefs, claiming to be suffering
from CTE because of multiple concussions suffered while playing
for the team.
(Reporting by Carey Gillam in Kansas City;
editing by Scott
Malone and Dan Grebler)
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