Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Genetic biomarkers in non-contact muscle injuries in elite soccer players

  • Sports Medicine
  • Published:
Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy Aims and scope

Abstract

Purpose

Damage to skeletal muscle necessitates regeneration to maintain proper muscle form and function. Interindividual differences in injury severity, recovery time, and injury rate could be explained by the presence of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in genes involved in the reparation and regeneration of connective tissue . We wished to identify new genetic biomarkers that could help to prevent or minimize the risk of non-contact muscle injuries and are associated with a predisposition to developing muscle injuries.

Methods

Using allelic discrimination techniques, we analysed 12 SNPs in selected genes from the genomic DNA of 74 elite soccer players.

Results

SNPs in the hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene showed evidence of a statistically significant association with injury incidence, severity, and recovery time. SNPs in the SOX15 gene showed evidence of a statistically significant association with injury incidence. SNPs in the GEFT and LIF genes showed evidence of a statistically significant association with recovery time.

Conclusions

Genetic profile could explain why some elite soccer players are predisposed to suffer more injuries than others and why they need more time to recover from a particular injury. SNPs in HGF genes have an important role as biomarkers of biological processes fragility within muscle injuries related to injury rate, severity, and long recovery time.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Adams GR (2002) Invited review: autocrine/paracrine IGF-I and skeletal muscle adaptation. J Appl Physiol 93(3):1159–1167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  2. Andermarcher E, Surani MA, Gherardi E (1996) Co-expression of the HGF/SF and c-Met genes during early mouse embryogenesis precedes reciprocal expression in adjacent tissues during organogenesis. Dev Genet 18(3):254–266

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Armfield DR, Hyun-Min DK, Towers JD, Bradley JP, Robertson DD (2006) Sports-related muscle injury in the lower extremity. Clin Sports Med 25(4):803–842

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Arnason A, Sigurdsson SB, Gudmundsson A, HolmeI Engebretsen L, Bahr R (2004) Risk factors for injuries in football. Am J Sports Med 32(1 Suppl):5S–16S

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Bencardino JT, Rosenberg ZS, Brown RR, Hassankhani A, Lustrin ES, Beltran J (2000) traumatic musculotendinous injuries of the knee: diagnosis with MR imaging 1. Radiographics. 20(suppl 1):S103–S120

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Broholm C, Pedersen BK (2010) Leukaemia inhibitory factor—an exercise-induced myokine. Exerc Immunol Rev 16:77–85

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Bryan BA, Mitchell DC, Zhao L et al (2005) Modulation of muscle regeneration, myogenesis, and adipogenesis by the Rho family guanine nucleotide exchange factor GEFT. Mol Cell Biol 25(24):11089–11101

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Collins M (2010) Genetic risk factors for soft-tissue injuries 101: a practical summary to help clinicians understand the role of genetics and ‘personalised medicine’. Br J Sports Med 44(13):915–917

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Collins M, Posthumus M (2011) Type V collagen genotype and exercise-related phenotype relationships: a novel hypothesis. Exerc Sport Sci Rev 39(4):191–198

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Otto C, Del Buono A, Best TM, Maffulli N (2012) Acute muscle strain injuries: a proposed new classification system. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 20(11):2356–2362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Eirale C, TolJL, Farooq A, Smiley F, Chalabi H (2013) Low injury rate strongly correlates with team success in Qatari professional football. Br J Sports Med 47(12):807–808

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ekstrand J, Hägglund M, Kristenson K, Magnusson H, Waldén M (2013) Fewer ligament injuries but no preventive effect on muscle injuries and severe injuries: an 11-year follow-up of the UEFA champions league injury study. Br J Sports Med 47(12):732–737

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Ekstrand J, Hägglund M, Waldén M (2011) Epidemiology of muscle injuries in professional football (soccer). Am J Sports Med 39(6):1226–1232

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Rodas G, Til L, Pruna R et al (2009) Guía de Práctica Clínica de las lesiones musculares. Epidemiología, diagnóstico, tratamiento y prevención. Versión 4.5 (9 de febrero de 2009). Apunts Med Esport 44 (164): 179–203

  15. Fuller CW, Junge A, Dvorak J (2012) Risk management: FIFA’s approach for protecting the health of football players. Br J Sports Med 46(1):11–17

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Gal-Levi R, Leshem Y, Aoki S, Nakamura T, Halevy O (1998) Hepatocyte growth factor plays a dual role in regulating skeletal muscle satellite cell proliferation and differentiation. Biochim Biophys Acta 1402(1):39–51

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Gutiérrez J, Cabrera D, Brandan E (2014) Glypican-1 regulates myoblast response to HGF via Met in a lipid raft-dependent mechanism: effect on migration of skeletal muscle precursor cells. Skelet Muscle 4(1):1–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Hägglund M, Waldén M, Magnusson H, Kristenson K, Bengtsson H, Ekstrand J (2013) Injuries affect team performance negatively in professional football: an 11-year follow-up of the UEFA champions league injury study. Br J Sports Med 47(12):738–742

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Harmon BT, Orkunoglu-Suer EF, Adham K et al (2010) CCL2 and CCR2 variants are associated with skeletal muscle strength and change in strength with resistance training. J Appl Physiol 109(6):1779–1785

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  20. Hunt LC, Upadhyay A, Jazayeri JA, Tudor EM, White JD (2013) An anti-inflammatory role for leukemia inhibitory factor receptor signaling in regenerating skeletal muscle. Histochem Cell Biol 139(1):13–34

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Kambouris M, Del Buono A, Maffulli N (2014) Genomics DNA profiling in elite professional soccer players: a pilot study. Transl Med Unisa 9:18

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  22. Kambouris M, Ntalouka F, Ziogas G, Maffulli N (2012) Predictive genomics DNA profiling for athletic performance. Recent Pat DNA Gene Seq 6(3):229–239

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Koulouris G, Connell D (2005) Hamstring muscle complex: an imaging review 1. Radiographics. 25(3):571–586

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Lee HJ, Göring W, Ochs M et al (2004) Sox15 is required for skeletal muscle regeneration. Mol Cell Biol 24(19):8428–8436

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Lippi G, Longo UG, Maffulli N (2010) Genetics and sports. Br Med Bull 93(1):27–47

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Longo UG, Loppini M, Margiotti K et al (2013) Unravelling the genetic susceptibility to develop ligament and tendon injuries. Curr Stem Cell Res Ther 10(1):56–63

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Maffulli N, Margiotti K, Longo UG, Loppini M, Fazio VM, Denaro V (2013) The genetics of sports injuries and athletic performance. Muscle Ligaments Tendons J 3(3):173

    Google Scholar 

  28. Maffulli N, Nanni G (2013) ISMuLT skeletal muscles injuries guidelines. Muscle Ligaments Tendons J 3(4):240

    Google Scholar 

  29. Maughan RJ, Shirreffs SM, Ozgünen KT et al (2010) Living, training and playing in the heat: challenges to the football player and strategies for coping with environmental extremes. Scand J Med Sci Sports 20(s3):117–124

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Mechelen W, Hlobil H, Kemper HG (1992) Incidence, severity, aetiology and prevention of sports injuries. Sports Med 14(2):82–99

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Meeson AP, Shi X, Alexander MS et al (2007) Sox15 and Fhl3 transcriptionally coactivate Foxk1 and regulate myogenic progenitor cells. EMBO J 26(7):1902–1912

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Moraes VY, Lenza M, Tamaoki JM, Faloppa F, Belloti JC (2014) Platelet‐rich therapies for musculoskeletal soft tissue injuries. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 12:CD1010071

  33. Owen AL, Forsyth JJ, Wong DP, Dellal A, Connelly S, Chamari K (2014) Heart rate based training intensity and its impact on injury incidence amongst elite level professional soccer players. J Strength Cond Res 29(6):1705–1712

    Article  Google Scholar 

  34. Pruna R, Artells R, Ribas J et al (2013) Single nucleotide polymorphisms associated with non-contact soft tissue injuries in elite professional soccer players Influence on degree of injury and recovery time. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 14(1):221

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  35. Pruna R, Medina D, Rodas G, Artells R (2013) Tendinopatía rotuliana. Modelo de actuación terapéutico en el deporte. Patellar tendinopathy. Therapetic model in the sport. Med Clin 141(3):119–124

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Pruna R, Til L, Artells R (2014) Could single nucleotide polymorphisms influence on the efficacy of platelet-rich plasma in the treatment of sport injuries? Muscles Ligaments Tendons J. 4(1):63

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  37. Tatsumi R, Anderson JE, Nevoret CJ, Nevoret CJ, Allen RE (1998) HGF/SF is present in normal adult skeletal muscle and is capable of activating satellite cells. Dev Biol 194(1):114–128

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Volpi P, Taioli E (2012) The health profile of professional soccer players: future opportunities for injury prevention. J Strength Cond Res 26(12):3473–3479

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We thank FC Barcelona Medical Services for all data provided.

Author information

Author notes

    Authors and Affiliations

    1. F.C. Barcelona Medical Services, FIFA Medical Center of Excellence, Barcelona, Spain

      Ricard Pruna

    2. SM Genomics, Barcelona, Spain

      Rosa Artells

    3. Department of Orthopaedics, Sahlgrenska University, Gothenburg, Sweden

      Matilda Lundblad

    4. Department of Musculoskeletal Disorders, Faculty of Medicine, Surgery and Dentistry, University of Salerno, Fisciano, Italy

      Nicola Maffulli

    5. Centre for Sports and Exercise Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Mile End Hospital, Queen Mary University of London, London, England

      Nicola Maffulli

    Authors
    1. Ricard Pruna
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    2. Rosa Artells
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    3. Matilda Lundblad
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    4. Nicola Maffulli
      View author publications

      You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

    Corresponding author

    Correspondence to Rosa Artells.

    Ethics declarations

    Conflict of interest

    None.

    Additional information

    The authors Ricard Pruna and Rosa Artells are equally contributed.

    Rights and permissions

    Reprints and permissions

    About this article

    Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

    Cite this article

    Pruna, R., Artells, R., Lundblad, M. et al. Genetic biomarkers in non-contact muscle injuries in elite soccer players. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthrosc 25, 3311–3318 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-016-4081-6

    Download citation

    • Received:

    • Accepted:

    • Published:

    • Issue Date:

    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00167-016-4081-6

    Keywords

    Search

    Navigation