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Concussion-Associated Polygenic Profiles of Elite Male Rugby Athletes
,
Jon Brazier ,
Peter C. Callus,
Adam J. Herbert ,
Georgina K. Stebbings ,
Praval Khanal ,
Stephen H. Day ,
Liam Kilduff ,
Mark Bennett,
Robert M. Erskine ,
Stuart M. Raleigh,
Malcolm Collins ,
Yannis P. Pitsiladis ,
Shane Heffernan ,
Alun Williams
Genes, Volume: 13, Issue: 5, Start page: 820
Swansea University Authors:
Liam Kilduff , Mark Bennett, Shane Heffernan , Alun Williams
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DOI (Published version): 10.3390/genes13050820
Abstract
Due to the high-velocity collision-based nature of elite rugby league and union, the risk of sus-taining a concussion is high. Occurrence of and outcomes following a concussion are probably affected by the interaction of multiple genes in a polygenic manner. This study investigated whether suspected...
| Published in: | Genes |
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| ISSN: | 2073-4425 |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022
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| Online Access: |
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| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa59926 |
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| Abstract: |
Due to the high-velocity collision-based nature of elite rugby league and union, the risk of sus-taining a concussion is high. Occurrence of and outcomes following a concussion are probably affected by the interaction of multiple genes in a polygenic manner. This study investigated whether suspected concussion-associated polygenic profiles of elite rugby athletes differed from non-athletes and between rugby union forwards and backs. We hypothesised that a total genotype score (TGS) using eight concussion-associated polymorphisms would be higher in elite rugby athletes than non-athletes, indicating selection for protection against incurring or suffering pro-longed effects of, concussion in the relatively high-risk environment of competitive rugby. In addition, multifactor dimensionality reduction was used to identify genetic interactions. Contrary to our hypothesis, TGS did not differ between elite rugby athletes and non-athletes (p ≥ 0.065), nor between rugby union forwards and backs (p = 0.668). Accordingly, the TGS could not discriminate between elite rugby athletes and non-athletes (AUC ~0.5), suggesting that, for the eight poly-morphisms investigated, elite rugby athletes do not have a more ‘preferable’ concus-sion-associated polygenic profile than non-athletes. However, the COMT (rs4680) and MAPT (rs10445337) GC allele combination was more common in rugby athletes (31.7%; p < 0.001) and rugby union athletes (31.8%; p < 0.001) than non-athletes (24.5%). Our results thus suggest a genetic interaction between COMT (rs4680) and MAPT (rs10445337) assists rugby athletes in achieving elite status. These findings need exploration vis-à-vis sport-related concussion injury data and could have implications for the management of inter-individual differences in concussion risk. |
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| Keywords: |
rugby; genotype; concussion; brain; polymorphism; genetics |
| College: |
Faculty of Science and Engineering |
| Funders: |
This research received no external funding. The APC was funded by the University of Northampton |
| Issue: |
5 |
| Start Page: |
820 |