There are two major types of brain injury — single traumatic injuries, such as a patient hospitalized for a car crash, and repetitive concussive brain injury.

Treatment for the first type of brain injury, the traumatic impact injury, has focused on surgical intervention for emergency care, with major advances in survival rates.

The second form of brain injury, repetitive concussive brain injury, has had little attention to date. This type of brain injury develops when individuals are exposed to multiple minor brain injuries during their lifetime, such as through violent or accidental concussions.

While individual concussions have little long-term effect, the cumulative process of multiple concussions can result in the build-up of inflammation in the brain, leading to cognitive damage, loss of emotional control, and a major increase in the risk of developing dementia. Military veterans with exposure to blast injuries, elite athletes with multiple concussions, and victims of repeated domestic violence are the most prominent patient groups.

Unfortunately, there has been little development for medicines to improve the long-term outcomes among these patient groups.

About our repetitive concussive brain injury project

We recently developed an experimental medicine with successful outcomes in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury. Our experimental medicine uses a gene delivery system to activate the body’s natural anti-inflammatory pathway in the brain.

We are currently in the process of translating this treatment to the clinic for car crash patients. This treatment has an even greater potential in patients with repetitive concussive brain injury, where the inflammatory build-up can be dialled down by treatment, preventing neurodegeneration.

We seek to analyse autopsy brain samples from patients who have had multiple concussions, using the latest in imaging technology to understand the type of inflammation present in their brains. We will then design a tailored form of our gene delivery experimental medicine to deliver the appropriate anti-inflammatories to the brain.

How you can help

We seek £7500 to perform a highly detailed “inflammation map” of the brain from healthy and repetitive concussive patients. We will release this inflammation map to the research community to kick-start the development of drug treatments for this unmet medical need.

If we are able to raise a further £20,000 we will be able to produce and test our designer experimental medicine. Additional raised funds will be used for the clinical development pathway, including safety testing and consultation with patient groups.