VαMPiRE
Validation of α-synuclein Modifications in Parkinson’s dIsoRder Evolution
The goal of VαMPiRE is to validate the association of alfa-synuclein (α-Syn) isoforms, and other biomarkers transported by neuron- derived extracellular vesicles (NDEVs), involved in the prevention or facilitation of α-Syn aggregation, that cause the dead of substantia nigra causing Parkinson’s Disease (PD).
After an initial review phase using existing data and biological materials from previous projects, VαMPiRE will assess traditional and novel NDEV isolation techniques, characterize NDEVs in several biofluids (blood, serum, plasma), perform morphological analysis of α- Syn, and develop the bio-detectors and measurement means for biomarker profiling. All this information, together with clinical and environmental data will be processed with an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm to find correlations and create clusters of samples. With the information obtained, a collection of 600 PD and 600 control samples and associated environmental and clinical data background will be obtained by 5 different clinical partners over 14 months. A second longitudinal collection will take place around 2 years later.
The final aim is to design and validate an accessible and low cost IVD test, able to detect PD in early pre-clinical stages. The results of this test, together with the other information in the AI algorithm, can be used for screening, diagnosis, disease evolution monitoring and therapeutic guidance. Such screening results could be confirmed by other means such as Dopamine Transporter (DaT) imaging diagnosis.
Based on the result of the first prototype, the design will be improved accordingly, and a final validation will take place using the samples collected from of both the initial and the second follow up. Depending on the analytical results, the project will start the regulatory steps for product registration under regulation (EU) 2017/746 on IVD medical devices and intellectual property registration following the consortium IP agreement.
Project Budget: 7,928,632.83 €
Linkcare total funding: 1,619,062.50 €
Program: HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-two-stage
Start Date: 01/11/2024
End Date: 30/10/2028
Grant Agreement: 101156370 (under preparation)
With the support of:
