Can many biomarkers make light work of liver fluke parasite diagnostics?

肝吸片虫（肝吸虫）是英国养牛场普遍存在的经济威胁。在没有疫苗的情况下，感染由驱虫药化疗控制，并通过牧场管理降低感染风险。这些控制方法受到蠕虫种群对驱虫剂耐药性和消费者对有机动物产品需求的限制。因此，有必要减少驱虫药的使用，避免一揽子治疗，转而采用有选择性的靶向治疗方案。兽医通常采用诊断测试，包括粪卵计数（FEC）或ELISA方法，为治疗决策提供信息。然而，没有现有的诊断工具可以检测组织穿透，早期幼年吸虫（感染后不到3周）。因此，现有工具无法支持对吸虫生命周期中最具破坏性阶段的靶向治疗。需要一种新的诊断性生物标志物发现方法来支持能够检测和应对这些致病性幼年寄生虫的靶向治疗策略。我们的假设是，血清生物标志物发现的多组网络方法将产生敏感和特异性的生物标志物模式，能够识别组织穿透性幼年羊肝吸虫。目的1：对羊吸虫感染的血清RNA转录组、蛋白质组和肽组进行测序。目标2：对组学数据集进行网络分析，以确定诊断性生物标志物模式。项目成果：一组优先RNA和/或蛋白质/肽生物标记簇，能够在感染后的头四周内识别肝吸虫感染。这些数据将为今后开发肝吸虫快速诊断测试奠定基础。

The helminth parasite Fasciola hepatica (liver fluke) is a pervasive economic threat on UK sheep and cattle farms. In the absence of vaccines, infections are controlled by anthelmintic chemotherapy, with infection risk reduced through pasture management. These control approaches are limited by anthelmintic resistance in worm populations, and consumer demand for organic animal products. There is therefore a need to reduce anthelmintic use, avoiding blanket treatments in favour of selectively targeted treatment regimes. Veterinarians often employ diagnostic tests, including faecal egg counting (FEC) or ELISA methods, to inform treatment decisions. However, no existing diagnostic tool can detect tissue penetrating, early juvenile fluke (less than 3 weeks post-infection). Existing tools therefore cannot support targeted treatment of the most damaging stage of the fluke life cycle. A new approach to diagnostic biomarker discovery is required to support targeted treatment strategies that can detect and respond to these pathogenic juvenile parasites. Our hypothesis is that a polyomic network approach to serum biomarker discovery will yield sensitive and specific biomarker patterns, capable of identifying tissue-penetrating juvenile liver fluke in sheep.Objective 1: Sequence serum RNA transcriptomes, proteomes, and peptidomes from sheep fluke infections. Objective 2: Perform network analysis of omics datasets to identify diagnostic biomarker patterns. Project outcome: A set of prioritised RNA and/or protein/peptide biomarker clusters capable of identifying liver fluke infection within the first four weeks post-infection. These data will form the basis for future development of a rapid diagnostic test for liver fluke.