Project description
Clinical study of filarial parasites, associated viruses, and neurological disease
Filarial worms are microscopic parasites mainly spread by insects. In addition to causing onchocerciasis (commonly known as river blindness), the filarial roundworm Onchocerca volvulus was recently linked to the development of neurological disease, including Onchocerciasis-associated epilepsy (OAE). The ERC-funded VILARIA project will conduct a clinical study of O. volvulus and a newly discovered virus infecting O. volvulus, OVRV1, in more than 1 600 patients in three countries to evaluate whether OVRV1 is a risk factor for OAE. The study will include children with onchocerciasis and neurological symptoms as well as pregnant mothers and their offspring to investigate the impact of in utero exposure to filarial parasites or viruses.
Objective
Filarial parasites cause over 200 million infections globally. Filarial morbidity was presumably limited to the skin, eyes, and lymphatic vessels. However, my research generated evidence that Onchocerca volvulus infection also induces neurological disease including Onchocerciasis-Associated Epilepsy (OAE). However, the causal mechanisms for neurological symptoms linked to O. volvulus infection are still unknown.
Recently my research group co-discovered a virus (OVRV1) within O. volvulus. Being related to the rabies virus family, OVRV1 could potentially cause OAE. I will investigate the clinical implications of this virus in >1600 persons from 3 affected countries. Case-control studies will verify whether OVRV1 is a risk factor for OAE. In a cohort study of onchocerciasis-exposed children with neurological symptoms, I will investigate the presence of OVRV1 in cerebrospinal fluid and assess its neurotoxicity by seeding OVRV1-positive samples on neural organoids. Viral metagenomics on Mansonella perstans (most common filarial disease, >110 million infections) will determine if it also harbours OVRV1 or other viruses. Finally, I will establish a prospective pregnancy cohort (n=900) and follow-up their children to investigate the materno-foetal consequences of in utero exposure to filarial parasites and/or viruses.
This project is expected to unveil new disease mechanisms and may lead to new diagnostic/treatment options. If OVRV1 is shown to be associated with OAE, it could serve as a biomarker to diagnose this condition. However if OVRV1 is found to be an O. volvulus-specific endosymbiont, it could be used to improve the performance of the current onchocerciasis diagnostic tests. It could even become a target for the development of new (macro)filaricidal drugs. Demonstrating that filarial infections can adversely impact pregnancy/child health will justify research on safe approaches to treat pregnant women and under-fives with ivermectin during mass drug administration.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences basic medicine neurology epilepsy
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences clinical medicine obstetrics
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
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Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC)
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) ERC-2024-STG
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2000 Antwerpen
Belgium
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