Relationship of calcitonin gene-related peptide with disease progression and prognosis of patients with severe traumatic brain injury

Calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) has been implicated in multiple functions across many bioprocesses; however, whether CGRP is associated with severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains poorly understood. In this study, 96 adult patients with TBI (enrolled from September 2015 to December 2016) were divided into a mild/moderate TBI group (36 males and 25 females, aged 38 +/- 13 years) and severe TBI group (22 males and 13 females, aged 38 +/- 11 years) according to Glasgow Coma Scale scores. In addition, 25 healthy individuals were selected as controls (15 males and 10 females, aged 39 +/- 13 years). Radioimmunoassay was used to detect serum levels of CGRP and endothelin-1 at admission and at 12, 24, 48, 72 hours, and 7 days after admission. CGRP levels were remarkably lower, but endothelin-1 levels were obviously higher in the severe TBI group compared with mild/moderate TBI and control groups. Levels of CGRP were remarkably lower, but endothelin-1 levels were obviously higher in deceased patients compared with patients who survived. Survival analysis and logistic regression showed that both CGRP and endothelin-1 levels were associated with patient mortality, with each serving as an independent risk factor for 6-month mortality of severe TBI patients. Moreover, TBI patients with lower serum CGRP levels had a higher risk of death. Thus, our retrospective analysis demonstrates the potential utility of CGRP as a new biomarker, monitoring method, and therapeutic target for TBI.