Sigyn Therapeutics, Inc. has announced the launch of an initiative to evaluate emerging medical technologies in former NFL players at risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Former NFL players experience significantly higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases compared to the general population, with CTE diagnosed post-mortem in a majority of former players. While repetitive head trauma triggers CTE initiation, chronic inflammation has been identified as the principal driver of disease progression.
Recent research from Trinity College Dublin revealed that chronic inflammation can compromise the protective blood-brain barrier, leaving it leaky for decades after an athlete retires. This allows inflammatory and pathogenic molecules to enter the brain, triggering neuroinflammation that accelerates abnormal tau-protein accumulation, the hallmark indicator of CTE. Based on this discovery, many former NFL players could be living in a persistent state of hyper-inflammation that increases their CTE risk.
In response, Sigyn Therapeutics is establishing a collaborative initiative with three primary objectives. First, the initiative will evaluate the feasibility of CardioDialysis, an extracorporeal blood purification technology designed to reduce circulating inflammatory and pathogenic molecules that fuel CTE progression. Second, it will complete an evaluation of blood-based neuron-derived exosome assays that could monitor CTE progression and therapeutic response while providing insight into blood-brain barrier permeability changes. Third, the initiative will evaluate other candidate therapies including a tau vaccine and brain-delivered anti-inflammatory drug agent.
"Based on my previous participation in two landmark studies of CTE in former NFL players, the knowledge that the brains of collision sport athletes can remain permeable for decades opens the door to new strategies to diagnose CTE in the living and for treating the disease through a targeted control of inflammation," stated Jim Joyce, CEO of Sigyn Therapeutics. The company's CardioDialysis technology represents the first therapy to integrate plasma separation and therapeutic adsorption within a single device, enabling continuous broad-spectrum clearance of inflammatory molecules from the bloodstream.
CardioDialysis targets inflammatory cytokines including TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and IL-6, as well as bacterial endotoxin—all identified as relevant blood-brain barrier-crossing contributors to CTE progression. Excessive inflammatory cytokine production also increases gut permeability, allowing bacterial endotoxin to leak into the bloodstream and further amplify inflammation into the chronic self-perpetuating loop of neuroinflammation observed by researchers. This initiative represents a significant step toward addressing the neurological health challenges facing former professional athletes through innovative medical technologies. To learn more about Sigyn Therapeutics, visit https://www.SigynTherapeutics.com.
