An international research team, including Hungarian immunologists, has advanced simpler diagnostics and new treatments for serious diseases after over four years of work. The findings may aid future cures for conditions like certain incurable kidney and eye diseases, as well as COVID-19, by deepening understanding of the immune system, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) announced.
Incurable kidney and eye diseases, defense against infections, and autoimmune diseases place a huge burden on society. One of the keys to the diagnosis and treatment of these diseases is a better understanding of the proper functioning of the complement system, a component of the immune system, reads the Budapest university’s announcement.
With the participation of researchers from ELTE, an international research group has been working over the past four years to better understand this system and, based on the results, to develop new diagnostic tools. The project, led by Philipps-Universität Marburg, involved seven other groups, including German, Dutch, and Spanish partners, in addition to the Hungarian researchers, and was supported by the European Commission with €3.5 million under the Horizon 2020 program.
The SciFiMed (Screening for inflammation to enable personalized medicine) international consortium worked on creating a biosensor that could make the diagnosis and treatment of inflammatory diseases faster and more effective.
As a result of several years of work, the researchers developed four antibody-based detection assays (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, ELISA), a diagnostic tool that can be used to measure certain proteins in blood samples, such as in the case of certain kidney and eye diseases, COVID-19, and delirium.
In addition, the consortium has developed a multiplex test (i.e., capable of measuring multiple values simultaneously) that can be used by doctors in the future as a rapid protein detection test directly at the patient’s bedside.
Another result of the project is an innovative liposome-based test for determining complement system activity, which is key to the diagnosis of the above diseases.
The project has also yielded new insights into the molecular interactions of a family of proteins that may be therapeutic targets in the future.
“This collaboration is a fine example of how the combination of different scientific fields, such as genetics, immunology, chemistry, nephrology, and ophthalmology, can achieve groundbreaking results that serve society,” they emphasized.
Staff from the Department of Immunology at ELTE Faculty of Science, led by Mihály Józsi, participated in the research.
Their main role was to produce the studied proteins in the lab and to help identify and understand how these proteins interact with other molecules, using test systems developed by their research partners.
In addition, they participated in testing prototypes of ELISA kits and applying commercially available assays to patient samples. In the future, the partners would like to continue their cooperation in further joint projects.
The researchers’ goal is to develop a multifunctional biosensor that allows for the quantitative and functional analysis of seven immune proteins directly at the patient’s bedside. “Although this sensor is still a future goal, the project has laid the groundwork for it—with new tests, better detection methods, and a deeper understanding of biological processes,” they wrote, adding that one of the most notable of these is the liposome-based complement test, which could replace traditional methods based on animal cells in the near future and is capable of mimicking the natural immune response in a test tube.
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Via MTI, Featured image: Pixabay
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