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Development and validation of a quantitative point-of-care test for the measurement of severity biomarkers to improve risk stratification of fever syndromes and enhance child survival

Project description

Revolutionising how febrile illnesses are triaged

Usually harmless, a fever may be a sign of a more serious underlying condition. In the case of febrile illness, a medical condition characterised by fever, less than 1 % can be life-threatening and challenging to diagnose early. In this context, the EU-funded EChiLiBRiST project will change how febrile illnesses are triaged globally, especially in children. Specifically, it will develop a rapid triaging tool that can accurately determine which patients are at risk of dying. The solution lies in measuring specific markers of the endothelium pathway, which plays a critical role in our defence against pathogens. The project will conduct trials to verify the improved performance of the triaging tool and test whether a specific intervention improves long-term outcomes and survival.

Objective

"Fever is the leading reason to seek healthcare globally, with over 1 billion cases of febrile illness occurring in children annually. The vast majority of infections are uncomplicated and self-limited and can be treated conservatively. A few (<1%) are life-threatening but are often challenging to identify early in the course of illness. Our project challenges the current status quo and inefficiencies of triaging practices. We propose to develop and validate a rapid triaging tool to determine, objectively, quantitatively and with high precision those patients at risk of dying, so as to prioritize their care.
The breakthrough solution lies in the ENDOTHELIUM, a newly recognized in vivo biosensor, which plays a critical role in our defense against pathogens. Endothelial cell activation and subsequent loss of integrity is a common pathway of injury in several life-threatening infections, including sepsis, malaria, or even COVID-19. Measuring specific mediators of this pathway (sTREM-1, Ang2, etc.) at first clinical presentation can reliably identify individuals at risk of dying, irrespective of the disease causing the fever, and more robustly than previously known predictors such as clinical algorithms or ""classic"" biomarkers. Importantly, these pathways are also ""druggable"", thus allowing the testing or re-purposing of specific interventions to improve outcome.
We will design and produce a RTT (glucometer-like) that quantitatively measures the two markers with best predictive performance (sTREM-1 and Ang2). We will then incorporate it into 2 clinical trials (to be done in Mozambique, Gabon and Ethiopia) to 1) verify the improved performance of the proposed PoC RTT in risk-stratifying and predicting mortality among paediatric patients when compared to standard of care, and 2) test whether a specific intervention (nutritional supplementation of L-Citrulline), guided by biomarker results, improves (vs. placebo) long-term outcomes and survival after hospital discharge.
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HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation Actions

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) HORIZON-HLTH-2021-DISEASE-04

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Coordinator

FUNDACION PRIVADA INSTITUTO DE SALUD GLOBAL BARCELONA
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 2 158 177,00
Address
C ROSSELLO 132 PLANTA 05
08036 Barcelona
Spain

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Region
Este Cataluña Barcelona
Activity type
Research Organisations
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 2 158 177,00

Participants (9)

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