# Scientists find blood biomarker that opens door to CTE diagnosis in living patients

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/scientists-find-blood-biomarker-that-opens-door-to-cte-diagnosis-in-living-patients/
- Published: 2026-11-14T04:00:33+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-14T05:21:21+00:00
- Original publisher: The Guardian (publisher lean: Left)
- Original article: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2026/nov/14/scientists-find-blood-biomarker-cte-diagnosis-rugby-american-football
- Topics: Americas, Football, Health, Medicine, Politics, Research, Science, Sport, World

## Key points

- A blood marker may help detect advanced CTE during life.
- The early-stage disease was not reliably identified.
- Larger studies are needed before clinical use.

## Summary

Researchers have found a blood protein fragment that may help identify advanced chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in living people. CTE is linked to repeated head impacts and affects people in contact sports, but it can currently be confirmed only by examining brain tissue after death.

In tests of 11 people whose CTE was confirmed after death, eMTBR-tau243 levels were higher than in healthy people and increased with disease severity. The test distinguished advanced CTE from healthy people with high accuracy, but did not reliably detect early-stage disease and has not been validated for diagnosis. Larger studies are needed; if they confirm the findings, the test could help monitor people at risk and support trials of potential treatments.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.