TORONTO — Researchers presented findings at the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging 2026 Annual Meeting demonstrating that the experimental PET radiotracer 18F-OXD-2314 can detect tau pathology in living patients with suspected chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) and in post-mortem CTE brain tissue. The study marks a potential step toward diagnosing CTE during a person’s lifetime, as the condition has previously been confirmable only after death.
Three retired collision-sport athletes and seven healthy controls underwent dynamic brain PET imaging using 18F-OXD-2314. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with suspected CTE showed elevated uptake of the radiotracer in the grey-white matter junction and in white matter. Additional studies assessed 3H-OXD-2314 binding in post-mortem CTE tissue, where the signal was observed in all examined cases, providing early biological confirmation that the tracer binds to tau pathology in human CTE tissue.
Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is associated with repeated head impact and is common among contact sports athletes, military veterans, and victims of interpersonal or intimate partner violence, as well as anyone who has experienced a traumatic brain injury. Individuals with suspected CTE often experience cognitive decline, mood symptoms, impulsivity, and dementia. Currently, CTE can only be definitively diagnosed after death through neuropathological examination that confirms the presence of tau plaques in the brain. Existing tau PET tracers were largely developed for Alzheimer’s disease and may not adequately detect the distinct tau pathology seen in CTE.
"If validated, 18F-OXD-2314 could help provide the first accurate in-life diagnostic biomarker for CTE," said Isabelle Boileau, senior scientist and associate director of the Brain Health Imaging Centre and head of the Addiction Imaging Research Group at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. "This work could also establish a clinical role for PET in traumatic brain injury and sports- and military-related neurodegeneration and spark next generation tau-radiopharmaceuticals optimized for non-Alzheimer's disease tauopathies including CTE."
"While this radiopharmaceutical is in the early clinical research stage, our data in both people with suspected CTE and other non-Alzheimer's disease tauopathies is very promising. The PET imaging for CTE could be available to patients as early as in the next two years, pending further studies," she said.