Potential Blood Biomarker for TBI, and Mechanistic Link with Alzheimerâs Disease Identified April 15, 2021 Source: Moussa81/Getty Images Scientists headed by a team at the Harrington Discovery Institute have discovered a potential new approach to preventing brain nerve cells from deteriorating after brain injury. The teamâs work, reported in Cell, demonstrated that traumatic brain injury (TBI) induces acetylation of the tau protein at sites that are also acetylated in human Alzheimerâs disease (AD), and revealed a potential mechanistic link between TBI and AD. The studies in addition indicated that blood levels of acetylated tau (ac-tau) could represent a potential biomarker for TBI. Strikingly, the researchers found that two FDA-approved NSAID (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug) medicines, salsalate and diflunisal, were potently neuroprotective after TBI in mice, while an analysis of human records indicated that use of either drug for other indications was associated with much lower incidences of clinically diagnosed TBI, and of AD.