Omics-based approaches for acute brain injury research

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: To review the role and clinical implications of omics-based approaches to advance the field of acute brain injury research. RECENT FINDINGS: Acute brain injury (ABI) comprises heterogeneous injury patterns and diseases for which there are not widespread targeted and disease-modifying therapeutics. Substantial advances in the outcomes of ABI patients have stagnated. Currently, supportive measures aimed at optimizing neural tissue oxygen delivery and metabolism form the cornerstones of ABI management. Recently, there has been increasing interest in focusing upon phenotyping various ABI to accelerate insights into disease mechanisms. In doing so, omics-based strategies have emerged as viable tools to accomplish both goals. The continuum encompassing genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics provides innumerable opportunities to identify novel and key cellular pathways responsible for disease pathophysiology and reveal diagnostic biomarkers that can be used to identify disease severity or response to therapies. Such a nuanced approach is currently lacking in ABI clinical care but research within this paradigm could open avenues of personalized management schema. SUMMARY: ABI diseases lack widespread and generalized methods to rapidly phenotype injury severity and patterns of disease pathophysiology. Integration of multipronged omics-based strategies can accomplish both goals and may lead to personalized management strategies.