Genomics, Transcriptomics, and Epigenomics in Traumatic Brain Injury Research

Abstract

The long-term effects and significant impact of the full spectrum of traumatic brain injury (TBI) has received increased attention in recent years. Despite increased research efforts, there has been little movement toward improving outcomes for the survivors of TBI. TBI is a heterogeneous condition with a complex biological response, and significant variability in human recovery contributes to the difficulty in identifying therapeutics that improve outcomes. Personalized medicine, identifying the best course of treatment for a given individual based on individual characteristics, has great potential to improve recovery for TBI survivors. The advances in medical genetics and genomics over the past 20 years have increased our understanding of many biological processes. A substantial amount of research has focused on the genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic profiles in many health and disease states, including recovery from TBI. The focus of this review chapter is to describe the current state of the science in genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic research in the TBI population. There have been some advancements toward understanding the genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic processes in humans, but much of this work remains at the preclinical stage. This current evidence does improve our understanding of TBI recovery, but also serves as an excellent platform upon which to build further study toward improved outcomes for this population.