Feasibility of developing a novel biomarker signature as an innovative diagnostic for tuberculosis (TB)

据估计，2010年有880万新的结核病病例，估计有140万人死亡，使这种疾病成为世界上最大的传染性杀手之一。据估计，全球1/3的人口感染了潜伏性疾病。疾病传播主要通过咳嗽和打喷嚏的飞沫发生。感染病例的早期诊断和治疗是预防结核病传播的关键。ProteinLogic已经建立了一种独特的蛋白质“签名”，可以区分感染性病例和潜在的疾病携带者。为了在商业上具有竞争力，该签名需要进一步验证。本项目旨在确定有助于测试可接受性的其他标志物。该项目将使ProteinLogic能够完善临床样本的测试和检查可行性，作为实现引入可以挽救数百万生命的测试目标的关键一步。

There were an estimated 8.8 million new cases of TB in 2010 and an estimated 1.4 million deaths, making this disease one of the world's biggest infectious killers. It is estimated that 1/3 of the global population is infected with latent disease. Disease transmission occurs primarily via droplets from coughing and sneezing. Early diagnosis and treatment of infective cases is key to preventing the spread of TB. ProteinLogic have established a unique protein ‘signature’ which can discriminate infectious cases from latent carriers of the disease. To become commercially competitive this signature requires further validation. This project aims to identify additional markers which can contribute to the acceptability of the test. This project will enable ProteinLogic to refine the test & check feasibility on clinical samples as a critical step towards the goal of introducing a test that could save millions of lives.