The ideal biomarker for central nervous system (CNS) trauma in patients would be a molecular marker specific for injured nervous tissue that would provide a consistent and reliable assessment of the presence and severity of injury and the prognosis for recovery. One candidate biomarker is the protein tau, a microtubule-associated protein abundant in the axonal compartment of CNS neurons. Following axonal injury, tau becomes modified primarily by hyperphosphorylation of its various amino acid residues and cleavage into smaller fragments. These posttrauma products can leak into the cerebrospinal fluid or bloodstream and become candidate biomarkers of CNS injury. This review examines the primary molecular changes that tau undergoes following traumatic brain injury and spinal cord injury, and reviews the current literature in traumatic CNS biomarker research with a focus on the potential for hyperphosphorylated and cleaved tau as sensitive biomarkers of injury.

患者中枢神经系统（CNS）创伤的理想生物标志物应该是特定于受伤神经组织的分子标志物，它将为损伤的存在和严重程度以及恢复的预后提供一致而可靠的评估。一种候选生物标志物是蛋白质tau，一种在中枢神经系统神经元的轴突区室中丰富的与微管相关的蛋白质。轴突损伤后，tau主要通过其各种氨基酸残基的过度磷酸化并切割成较小的片段而被修饰。这些创伤后产物可泄漏到脑脊液或血液中，并成为中枢神经系统损伤的候选生物标志物。这篇评论探讨了颅脑外伤和脊髓损伤后tau经历的主要分子变化，