Immunofrailty Chronic Inflammatory Disseases Precision Medicine, Avenna, Biomarkers, Glycans

Discovering Precision Medicine Biomarkers to optimise your immune system

Who are we looking for?

• Individuals between 18 and 35 years old.
• Able to commit to provide three small blood samples over a period of 9 months.
• Willing to undergo lifestyle changes to improve their chronic inflammatory statuses.

What is the purpose of the study ?

Development of predictive and prognostic biomarkers is a substantial part of our work on precision medicine solutions for Inflammatory Diseases (IDs). Current R&D projects are focused on studying changes in the glycomics patterns of blood immune components in healthy individuals as well as in patients with a wide range of Inflammatory Diseases (IDs) The results from our past studies indicate that those affected by Inflammatory conditions share some common underlying aetiological pathways correlating with immune dysfunctions. We call these ‘immunofrailty pathways’ and the resulting degradation of immune fitness ‘immunofrailty’ (IF).

We are now exploiting the use of blood glycomics patterns as metrics of immunofrailty with the aim of develop reliable early prognostic biomarkers to track chronic inflammatory processes in a body as well as disease-specific biomarkers for IBD and COVID-19.

This project will be focused on studying associations between different glycosylation features, abnormalities, and differences in blood plasma glycosylation profiles to better understand correlations between glycosylation patterns, immunofrailtiy, and lifestyle factors in young individuals.

We want to understand how particular glycan structures can help to identify Immunofrail individuals regardless of their age and current health profiles. We also want to investigate how these biomarkers can be used in clinical practice for early detection and treatment personalization in diagnosed chronic and acute inflammatory conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, and COVID-19.

Immunofrailty defines the ability of an individual to cope with chronic and acute inflammatory diseases. It is a complex condition with a wide range of causes, that all lead to high levels of chronic inflammation. Extensive scientific research demonstrated that chronic inflammation is the primary driver of the majority of chronic diseases and ageing. In this project, we will be studying associations between different glycosylation features, abnormalities, and differences in blood plasma glycosylation profiles between individuals, to better understand correlations between glycosylation patterns, immunofrailty, and lifestyle factors in young individuals.

Why to take part?

By taking part in this project, you will be able to directly contribute to the development of clinical glycan biomarkers to enable precision medicine approach to treat Inflammatory Diseases.

Current medical tests, such as hsCRP and IL-6, cannot measure CI processes at early disease stages due to interference from acute inflammation. This means that clinicians can’t identify the most vulnerable individuals for acute IDs and also detect chronic IDs, before tissue damage occur. This makes current healthcare for IDs reactive rather than predictive, generic rather than personalised, and as outcome unsustainably expensive to societies.

Your assistance will allow us and other researchers to better understand the glycan features associated with health and wellbeing, as well as aging and disease, and develop clinical biomarkers to enable clinicians to detect disease at an early stage, identify the most vulnerable individuals to worse disease outcomes and personalise treatment selection at an early stage.