Quanterix has made a potentially revolutionary improvement in concussion diagnosis. In July, Quanterix was recognized as the final winner of the GE and NFL’s Head Health Challenge I. Quanterix was one of sixteen winners—out of over four-hundred entrants—in phase one of the challenge. As the final winner of phase two of the challenge, Quanterix was awarded an additional $500,000 in funding to help further their developing neurological testing system in an effort to improve concussion management.
Quanterix is a developer of tools in high-definition diagnostics that has created a blood test to detect traumatic brain injuries. CEO and Executive Chairman of Quanterix, Kevin Hrusovsky described Quanterix as “incredibly disruptive,” since the company has recently emerged onto the medical landscape and has the potential to render other detection methods irrelevant. According to Hrusovsky, Quanterix is creating next generation technology, with diagnostic tests ranging throughout all therapeutics.
At the Quanterix inception, sports-related head injuries were a focus of the company since concussions are, as Hrusovsky describes, “an epidemic.” Much of the current concussion detection system is based on trial and error. But Quanterix created a system, Simoa, that accomplishes what no one else in the world has been able to—measuring concussions in blood, which will transform concussion management. And it was the data supporting this innovation that compelled the NFL and GE to help further advance the company.
Simoa’s detection system is based on proteins found in the blood. Hrusovsky broke down this process: “in the body there are proteins. When the brain is injured from a concussion, some cells and neurons in the brain release proteins that cross the blood-brain barrier to enter into the blood. This technology is so sensitive that it can detect those proteins in the blood.” The extreme sensitivity of Simoa is the most critical aspect of this detection system. Hrusovsky says Simoa is sensitive enough to “find a grain of sand in 2000 Olympic swimming pools, and find a single blade of grass in a field as big as the state of Alaska.”
According to Hrusovsky, “proteins are the best way to describe if a person is sick,” which is what inspired Simoa’s analysis of proteins to detect concussions. “[Analyzing proteins] also works for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and maybe eventually [will be able to diagnose] cancers, heart disease, and ALS…There is a lot of promise that we can change the way medicine is practiced in all different categories and can fix some of the worst conditions known to mankind, businessmen, and scientists.”
Proteins can detect issues within the blood before symptoms become visible, which is why it is so imperative for concussions. Concussion symptoms do not necessarily appear immediately, but rather minutes, hours, or even days after the impact that caused the injury.
Simoa offers a quicker detection method, which in turn will shorten the recovery time. The reality is that so much is still unknown about concussions. But the ability to visualize biomarkers and truly examine them will help researchers better understand the chemistry of the brain.
Concussions are often diagnosed through a series of cognitive studies and doctors looking for the appearance of symptoms—such as headaches, anxiety, and dizziness—which suggest that a person is suffering from a concussion.
Evidence that certain treatments may allow a quicker recovery is still theoretical. Athletes often try to alter the results of a cognitive test to avoid missing any time, though returning prematurely from a concussion can aggravate the injury, causing further time loss and extending the necessary recovery time. With Simoa, athletes will not have the opportunity to alter their results and further injure themselves by returning too soon–– so in theory, the recovery time will be shorter.
Results from Simoa’s blood test not only identify whether a person has a concussion, but how severe the concussion is based on the level of biomarkers. The higher the severity, the higher the biomarkers. Another phenomenon noted is when the biomarkers peak twenty-four hours after the brain impact, the patient’s recovery time is expected to be longer, and most likely indicates that the trauma is more severe.
Another study Quanterix has been conducting focuses on patients who have suffered multiple concussions. Specifically, if a person’s biomarker baseline is normally at zero and their tau protein level peaks to thirty while concussed, the question Quanterix looks to answer is how long did it take to return to baseline, if at all? Quanterix has noted that the person’s baseline has elevated each time a person has been concussed—creating an accumulated effect. Hrusovsky explained this accumulated effect, saying “Usually [after a concussion, the baseline] only comes down to one or two. Then the second concussion may spike higher than thirty, and when it comes back it may only come down to ten.”
The technology Quanterix has created currently takes about forty five minutes to get results, but the company is working to shorten that time to twenty minutes. The next question Quanterix has to answer is the minimum time between brain impact and the appearance of blood biomarkers confirming a concussion. Thus far, Quanterix has identified biomarker spikes sixty minutes after impact. By examining three specific biomarkers, Quanterix has experienced a success rate of at least ninety-five percent for detecting concussions.
Concussions have been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a neurodegenerative disease that numerous NFL and NHL players have been diagnosed with post mortem. Quanterix is looking to study the linkage between concussions and CTE developing since so many questions remain regarding CTE. As Hrusovsky said, “Thirty percent of NFL retirees experience dementia at [age] sixty-five, but only five percent of the regular population does. Is this due to concussions or CTE? Biomarkers can begin the opportunity for new trials to get the answer.”
It was the compelling work of Quanterix with the military that dealt with concussions, that connected the Company with GE and the NFL’s Head Health Challenge I. Since receiving the second award, Quanterix has expanded to researching multiple biomarkers and multiplexing.
Interestingly enough, the NFL—the league that ridiculed the discovery of CTE and dismissed the link between a player’s’ career in contact sports and their untimely death caused by CTE—has been nothing but supportive of Quanterix, the company trying to explore that link. Although the storyline portrayed by the NFL regarding CTE has been incredibly suggestive, the league has been nothing but proactive by funding Quanterix to keep advancing.
Given the NFL’s interest in Quanterix, the question remains when the league, as well as other professional leagues, will adopt this system in place of their standard concussion protocols. Hrusovsky believes the discussion has to begin with education because this information is such a game-changer, whether it is for the military or athletics.
Stressing the importance of biomarkers, Hrusovsky said Quanterix are looking to spread this message through their numerous publications in order to inform about the latest in concussion management. The company is also contemplating whether to open a testing laboratory to offer their form of diagnostic testing sooner rather than later. Hrusovsky said that their development of testing would allow a testing laboratory to open as early as mid-next year. The company is looking into multiple possibilities to get their tests out on the market.
Although substantially successful already, Quanterix is still looking to improve. Quanterix is looking to spread their message by educating about the possibilities of biomarkers. Additionally, Quanterix is looking to further improve the science itself. The grants from the NFL have allowed Quanterix to further develop their method and publications that will be read by doctors. The cross-section of “sports and science is so unique and compelling,” says Hrusovsky, and the two communities are connected by something with so many remaining questions. It is still unknown why concussions cause such negative symptoms; all that is known is that symptoms like anxiety and depression are connected and can happen when a person is concussed. By further exploring this, a linkage can someday be confirmed.
With applications in oncology, neurology, cardiology, infectious disease and inflammatory disease, Hrusovsky believes his company has the potential to exploit the power of the protein to turn today’s sick care to true healthcare. According to Hrusovsky, the technology has “the ability to someday replace tests like mammograms with blood tests.”
Simoa is the latest innovation in science to combat concussions. And maybe if the direction—including treatments and protocols—of concussion management is improved, the significance of a concussion will diminish. Prevention will always be the key to safety, but understanding the long term effects and being able to identify these traumatic brain injuries definitively will certainly improve the field for not only athletes, but for all people.