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

2010年估计有880万新发结核病病例，估计有140万人死亡，使这种疾病成为世界上最大的传染病杀手之一。据估计，全球三分之一的人口感染了潜伏性疾病。疾病主要通过咳嗽和打喷嚏的飞沫传播。早期诊断和治疗感染病例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“特征”，可以区分感染病例和疾病的潜伏携带者。为了在商业上具有竞争力，这一签名需要进一步验证。该项目旨在确定有助于测试可接受性的其他标记。该项目将使ProteinLogic能够完善测试并检查临床样本的可行性，这是迈向引入一种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.