A single gene can play a role in recovery from brain injury

The treatment after traumatic brain injury (TBI), such as a stroke or concussion, can be different depending on the severity of the patient’s symptoms.

Now, new research has revealed that differences in a single gene may predict how well a person recovers from a TBI, compared to others with similar injuries.

In a new study published in the journal PLOS ONE, researchers focused on the role of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and how it related to the post-TBI recovery process.

“It’s a basic growth factor in the brain that supports neurogenesis, which is the formation of new neurons,” lead researcher Aron Barbey, a professor of neuroscience and of psychology at the University of Illinois, told FoxNews.com. “One of the hypotheses is that BDNF would be critical for recovering from TBI and the formation of new neurons following an injury.”

According to Barbey, there are two different polymorphisms of the BDNF gene: the Met variant and the Val variant.  The variants (or alleles) dictate whether the amino acids methionine (Met) or valine (Val) are incorporated in the BDNF protein.  Since people inherit two copies of each gene from their parents, individuals can have one of three combinations of the BDNF variants: Val/Val, Val/Met or Met/Met.

The researchers focused on the BDNF genetic variants of 156 Vietnam War veterans who had suffered penetrating head wounds during combat.  All of the study’s participants had focal injuries that impacted the prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain found to be important for planning, problem-solving and complex analysis.

Barbey and his team collected blood samples of the veterans for genetic analysis, in order to determine which BDNF variant they possessed.  They also gave the study participants a series of cognitive and inteliigence tests.

Through their testing, the researchers found that a single polymorphism accounted for a significant difference in cognitive function. Veterans with the Val/Val combination performed an average of eight I.Q. points lower than veterans with either the Val/Met or the Met/Met combination.

“That suggests individuals with a Val/Val combination are highly sensitive to traumatic brain injury,” said Barbey.

Knowing that these variants play a key role in recovery from a brain injury, Barbey said physicians could potentially use this genetic information to guide their treatments for TBIs in the future.

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