Biomarker identification via In vivo Microbial Antigen Discovery
Abstract
Diagnosis of an acute infection can be accomplished by identifying microbial antigens directly from patient samples. Such methods are usually rapid and result in the timely administration of effective therapeutics. However, detection of trace amounts of circulating microbial antigens is severely compromised by their presence within complex biological fluids such as serum, which contains 60-80 milligrams of host proteins per milliliter. In addition, many microbes do not replicate to high levels in biological fluids, further complicating diagnosis. In an attempt to identify trace amounts of circulating microbial antigens that possess diagnostic potential we developed and are evaluating a platform technology termed In vivo Microbial Antigen Discovery (InMAD). Instead of focusing on antigens that are predicted to be shed or secreted by a pathogen, InMAD takes a relatively unbiased approach to identifying microbial antigens that can be targeted by immunoassay. Previous InMAD studies analyzed biological samples collected from murine models of infection. The goal of this project is to determine if InMAD is a viable diagnostic platform for the identification of biomarkers directly from clinical and nonhuman primate (NHP) samples. Our hypothesis is that using samples from infected humans and NHPs for InMAD will yield a more accurate secreted antigen profile and reveal valuable new diagnostic biomarkers.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Oct 13, 2016
- Source ID
- HDTRA11610055
Entities
People
- David Paul AuCoin
Organizations
- Defense Threat Reduction Agency
- University of Nevada, Reno