(CNN) The headlines about football players and chronic traumatic encephalopathy - commonly known as CTE - seem endless. The most recent diagnosis of the neurodegenerative brain disease was given to former New England Patriot Aaron Hernandez. But one of the biggest obstacles in understanding CTE has been the inability to diagnose it in the living. New research released Tuesday may make that possible. Published in the journal PLOS One, researchers have found a protein that can be a marker of this devastating disease. "This is something new," said Dr. Ann McKee, a neuropathologist and senior author of the study. McKee has performed many of the high profile diagnoses of CTE among former pro-football players and is director of the Boston University CTE Center.Researchers believe a protein called CCL11 could be a marker for CTEStudy results still need to be repeated and tested in living people
While Omalu was cautiously optimistic about the development, he also noted that _ isn't unique to the brain disease.