In the publication ISD researchers and international partners found that a new blood biomarker, brain-derived tau (BD-tau), can track the extent of brain injury after ischemic stroke over time. BD-tau can also predict patients’ functional outcome months to years later and detect the effects of treatments. While further studies are needed, BD-tau could help clinicians to monitor stroke severity more closely, detect complications earlier and evaluate new therapies more efficiently in clinical trials.

Publication:

Vlegels N, Knuth NL, Steiner KA, Zhang L, Vix AL, Moumin D, Mirzen I, Khalifeh N, Forster C, Gesierich B, Müller F, Lohse P, Filler J, Fang R, Klein M, Dimitriadis K, Franzmeier N, Liebig T, Endres M, Goertler M, Petzold GC, Wunderlich S, Zerr I, Field TS, Pham M, Swartz RH, Poli S, Berrouschot J, Zafar A, Schneider H, Shankar JJ, Aamodt AH, Minnerup J, Mandzia JL, Reimann G, Psychogios MN, Mundiyanapurath S, Reich A, Yeo LLL, Duering M, Reidler P; DEMDAS study group; ESCAPE-NEXT biomarker substudy investigators‡; Goyal M, Tymianski M, Hill MD, Dichgans M, Tiedt S; DEMDAS study group collaborators; ESCAPE-NEXT biomarker substudy investigators. Brain-derived tau for monitoring brain injury in acute ischemic stroke. Sci Transl Med. 2026 Jan 14;18(832):eadz1280. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adz1280. Epub 2026 Jan 14.