Proteomic identification of biomarkers of traumatic brain injury

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major national health problem without a US Food and Drug Administration-approved therapy. This review summarizes the importance of discovering relevant TBI protein biomarkers and presents logical rationale that neuroproteomic technologies are uniquely suited for the discovery of otherwise unnoticed TBI biomarkers. It highlights that one must make careful decisions when choosing which paradigm (human vs. animal models) and which biologic samples to use for such proteomic studies. It further outlines some of the desirable attributes of an ideal TBI biomarker and discusses how biomarkers discovered proteomically are complementary to those identified by traditional approaches. Lastly, the most important sequela of any proteomically identified TBI biomarker is validation in preclinical or clinical samples.