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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cytokines and Soluble Mediators in Immunity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1478786
This article is part of the Research Topic Organ crosstalk and other responses to an activated immune system in trauma and disease View all 8 articles

Extracellular Vesicles (EV) epitopes as potential biomarker candidates in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury

Provisionally accepted
Jason-Alexander Hörauf Jason-Alexander Hörauf 1*Cora R. Schindler Cora R. Schindler 1Inna Schaible Inna Schaible 1Minghong Wang Minghong Wang 1Birte Weber Birte Weber 1André El Saman André El Saman 1Christiane Pallas Christiane Pallas 2Marek Widera Marek Widera 2Ingo Marzi Ingo Marzi 1Dirk Henrich Dirk Henrich 1Liudmila Leppik Liudmila Leppik 1
  • 1 Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany
  • 2 Institute of Medical Virology, Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Background: Extracellular vesicles (EVs), a heterogeneous group of cell-derived, membrane-enclosed vesicles bearing cell-specific epitopes capable of crossing the blood-spinal cord barrier, have been demonstrated to play a crucial role in neuronal-glial communication and the orchestration of neuroinflammatory processes. However, the existing evidence regarding their function as biomarkers and their role in the pathobiology of traumatic spinal cord injuries (tSCI), particularly in humans, is scarce. Objective: The primary goal of this study was to investigate whether a distinct pattern of EV surface epitopes detected in the plasma of individuals suffering from spinal cord injury is indicative of tSCI. Methods: The study includes patients with isolated tSCI (n=8), polytrauma patients without tSCI (PT; ISS ≥16, n=8), and healthy volunteers (HV; n=8). Plasma samples from tSCI and PT patients were collected right after admission to the emergency room (ER), 24 hours (24h), and 48h after trauma. EVs were isolated via size exclusion chromatography, and EVs’ surface epitopes were quantified with MACSPlex EV Kit Neuro (prototype product, Miltenyi Biotec) and compared among the groups. Additionally, results were correlated with clinical parameters. Results: In total, 19 epitopes differed significantly between the tSCI and the HV groups. Out of these 19, four (CD47, CD56, CD68, and ADAM17) were found to differ significantly among tSCI and PT groups. The expression of the CD47 epitope was found to correlate positively with the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) impairment scale. Conclusion: We identified four potential EV-based tSCI biomarkers (CD47+, CD56+, CD68+, and ADAM17+ EVs) that differ in tSCI, with CD47+ EVs showing a strong correlation with the neurological function in tSCI. Thus, future studies might further specify the relevance of potential tSCI-specific biomarkers and investigate underlying mechanisms of tSCI.

    Keywords: spinal cord injury, extracellular vesicles, biomarkers, Epitopes, polytrauma

    Received: 10 Aug 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hörauf, Schindler, Schaible, Wang, Weber, El Saman, Pallas, Widera, Marzi, Henrich and Leppik. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Jason-Alexander Hörauf, Department of Trauma Surgery and Orthopedics, University Hospital Frankfurt, Frankfurt am Main, Germany

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