Emory’s Center for the Study of Human Health and Concussion & CTE Foundation launch first-of-its-kind clinical trial for former football players
ATLANTA — Emory University’s Center for the Study of Human Health and the Emory University School of Medicine, together with the Concussion & CTE Foundation, today announced recruitment for a groundbreaking clinical trial investigating whether baricitinib — an FDA-approved medication that reduces inflammation — can improve depression and cognitive symptoms in former football players.
“This is the first-ever therapeutic interventional trial for former football players who have had repeated exposure to head impacts,” said Christina Gavegnano, PhD, associate professor at the Emory Center for the Study of Human Health and Emory University School of Medicine, and a co-principal investigator (co-PI) on the study. “Research from Boston University and others have long shown that repetitive head impacts from football can in part cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). More recently, their work links repetitive head impacts with chronic inflammation, and that inflammation may be driving some symptoms. Baricitinib is known to block bad inflammation and helps promote tissue repair and good inflammation, so we are hopeful we’ll see a positive response.”
Right now, CTE can only be diagnosed after death, and there are no evidence-based treatments for the symptoms associated with repetitive head impact exposure. Led at Emory by co-PIs Jennifer Felger, PhD, Andrew Miller, MD, and Gavegnano, the trial was designed by the research teams at the Emory Center for the Study of Human Health and Emory School of Medicine, alongside leading CTE researchers from the Boston University CTE Center, Harvard Medical School, and the UCSF Weill Institute for Neurosciences Memory and Aging Center. It builds on growing evidence that chronic inflammation may play a key role in the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases, including CTE, and researchers will evaluate whether blocking a specific inflammatory pathway can improve symptoms commonly observed in former football players, including depression and problems with memory and thinking.
“Thanks to two decades of breakthrough research on athletes exposed to repetitive head impacts, both with and without CTE, we are now entering the era of treatment research,” said Chris Nowinski, PhD, Concussion & CTE Foundation CEO. “We’ve learned so much from brain donation, and we’re now looking for living former athletes to volunteer for clinical trials to help us find effective treatments.”
“While this isn’t a treatment for CTE specifically, we see these mood symptoms in football players exposed to repetitive head impacts so often,” said Michael Alosco, PhD, co-director of clinical research at the Boston University CTE Center. “We are not at the point of doing a treatment trial for CTE, but it’s important to see if medications and interventions to alleviate mood disturbances are effective in football players.”
The study is seeking adult men ages 30–55 who played 11 or more years of tackle football and have depression and cognitive concerns. Baricitinib is already approved for other medical conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis and acute hospitalized COVID-19.