Novel Diagnostic Markers of Japanese Encephalitis Virus

脑部感染每年影响300多万人，导致死亡、残疾和社会经济损失的比例相对较高。尽管如此，这一领域的研究在全球范围内资金不足是出了名的，相关的管理缺陷和相关的糟糕结果。具体地说，这些病例中的一个重要因素涉及对这些患者的诊断测试要求的复杂性，以及许多地区缺乏实验室能力。老挝-牛津-毛霍特惠康信托研究单位(LOMWRU)的一个中心主题一直是探索这种环境下脑部感染的原因，并开发低成本的诊断测试。LOMWRU的研究证实，与亚洲的其他研究一致，日本脑炎病毒(JEV)是老挝脑部感染的主要已确定原因。乙脑病毒主要影响贫困农村地区的儿童，据估计，三分之一的乙脑病毒病例死亡，三分之一长期残疾。在与老挝、牛津和马赛的一组研究人员的跨学科合作中，Bharucha博士的项目旨在确定乙脑病毒的诊断标记。Bharucha博士将在6月至9月的乙脑病毒高峰期在LOMWRU工作，协调样本的收集、处理和储存。她将在牛津大学生物化学系的齐兹曼教授的指导下，在DPhil的大部分时间里，发展基于蛋白质组学的质谱学方面的专业技能。这将使她能够与其他脑部感染的患者相比，识别出JEV特有的蛋白质或多肽。确定乙脑病毒的蛋白质特征将使进一步的工作能够开发一种在现场诊断乙脑病毒的简单、快速和廉价的检测方法。目前还没有可靠的现场使用测试，这对偏远地区的临床医生、政策制定者和评估新疗法的研究人员来说将是无价的。

Brain infections affect over 3 million people per year, with a relatively high proportion leading to death, disability and socioeconomic costs. Nonetheless, research in this field is notoriously under-funded worldwide, with associated deficits in management and associated poor outcomes. Specifically, an important factor in these cases relates to the complexity of requirements of diagnostic testing for these patients, and the lack of laboratory capacity in many areas.A central theme of the Laos-Oxford-Mahosot Wellcome Trust Research unit (LOMWRU) has been exploring the causes of brain infections in this setting, and developing low-cost diagnostic tests. Research at LOMWRU has confirmed that Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is the leading identified cause of brain infections in Laos, consistent with other studies in Asia. JEV mainly affects children in poor rural areas, and it is estimated that one third of JEV cases die, and one third have long-term disability. In an inter-disciplinary collaboration with a group of researchers in Laos, Oxford and Marseille, Dr Bharucha's project aims to identify a diagnostic marker of JEV. This will involve the unbiased technique mass spectrometry to analyse the proteins in brain fluid in JEV patients, as compared to patients with other brain infections.Dr Bharucha will be working in LOMWRU during the peak JEV season from June to September co-ordinating sample collection, processing and storage. She will spend the bulk of her DPhil under the supervision of Professor Zitzmann at the Department of Biochemistry in Oxford, developing specialist skills in proteomics-based mass-spectrometry. This will enable her to identify proteins or peptides that are specific for JEV, in comparison to patients with other brain infections. The identification of a protein signature for JEV would enable further work to develop a simple, rapid and cheap test for diagnosing JEV in field settings. There is no existing test that is reliable for use in the field, and this would be invaluable for clinicians in remote areas, policy makers and researchers evaluating novel treatments.