Sigyn Therapeutics, Inc. (OTCQB: SIGY) announced today the launch of an initiative to evaluate emerging medical technologies in former NFL players at risk of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The initiative will assess the company's CardioDialysis blood purification technology, as well as blood-based exosome assays, a tau vaccine, and a brain-delivered anti-inflammatory drug agent.
Former NFL players experience significantly higher rates of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS, Parkinson's disease, and CTE. While repetitive head trauma triggers CTE initiation, chronic inflammation has been discovered as the principal driver of disease progression. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin recently reported that the blood-brain barrier (BBB) can be compromised by chronic inflammation and remain leaky for decades after an athlete retires. This allows inflammatory and pathogenic molecules to leak into the brain, triggering neuroinflammation that accelerates abnormal tau-protein accumulation, the hallmark of CTE.
Based on this discovery, Sigyn anticipates that many former NFL players could be living in a persistent state of hyper-inflammation that increases their CTE risk. 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.
CardioDialysis is the first technology to integrate plasma separation and therapeutic adsorption into a single device, enabling continuous broad-spectrum clearance of inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, and IL-6, as well as bacterial endotoxin—key BBB-crossing contributors to CTE progression. Excessive inflammatory cytokine production also increases gut permeability, allowing endotoxin to leak into the bloodstream, further amplifying neuroinflammation.
“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,” said Jim Joyce, CEO of Sigyn Therapeutics.
The initiative also plans to complete an evaluation of blood-based neuron-derived exosome assays that could monitor CTE progression and response to therapies, as well as evaluate a tau vaccine and a brain-delivered anti-inflammatory drug agent.
Sigyn Therapeutics is the developer of CardioDialysis, a next-generation blood purification technology. The company's development pipeline also includes ImmunePrep, ChemoPrep, and ChemoPure technologies. The company cautions that forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially.
