If you have been following the news recently, you may well have seen that Motor Neurone Disease (MND) has been in the headlines more and more. Just last month, Rob Burrow sadly passed away having struggled against the disease admirably for a number of years. His close friend, Kevin Sinfield, has run all manner of superhuman feats to raise money for research into the disease in the hopes of finding a cure. Other names may be less familiar but no less important: Doddie Weir, Ed Slater, Joost van der Westhuizen...
As someone who has played rugby for the last fifteen years, I am encouraged to see the research being put into identifying and diagnosing biological differences as a result of concussions sustained whilst playing. This recent study has found particular biomarkers, including transport proteins, which occur in altered proportions in the brains of former players who received concussions. These biomarkers have already been linked with the development of neurodegenerative diseases, such as MND or early onset Alzheimers.
Whilst it is obviously excellent progress to further pin down the specific mechanism by which these diseases occur, it remains to be seen whether this research will translate into rapid pitch-side diagnoses of concussion, or the necessary medical technologies for providing certainty regarding the state of current and former players' brains. All of us, rugby players or otherwise, must hope that it does.
A new study shows that retired rugby players who have suffered multiple concussions have abnormal levels of certain proteins in their blood...rugby players who had been concussed in their career had lower levels of a different so-called retinoid transport protein which is important for the development and functioning of the brain.
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