The Application of Proteomics to Traumatic Brain and Spinal Cord Injuries

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI), collectively termed neurotrauma, are two parallel neurological conditions that can cause long-lasting neurological impairment and other comorbidities in patients, while at the same time, can create a high burden to society. To date, there are still no FDA-approved therapeutic interventions for either TBI or SCI. Recent advances in proteomic technologies, including tandem mass spectrometry, as well as imaging mass spectrometry, have enabled new approaches to study the differential proteome in TBI and SCI with the use of either animal disease models and/or biosamples from clinical observational studies. Thus, the applications of state-of-the-art proteomic method hold promises in shedding light on identifying clinically useful neurotrauma “biomarkers” and/or in identifying distinct and, otherwise, unobvious systems pathways or “key drivers” that can be further exploited as new therapeutic intervention targets.