DZL researcher secures European funding in the amount of 1.1 million euros for joint project on the research of interstitial lung diseases.
Patients suffering from interstitial lung disease (ILD), in most cases, don’t have good prospects of a cure. For the approximately 100 types of this rare disease, only few symptomatic treatment approaches are available, so patients frequently die from complications of the disease. Thus, early diagnosis is key in order to slow down progression of the disease. For a joint research project on the early detection of ILD, DZL researcher Prof. Dr. Andreas Guenther, Head of the Center for Interstitial and Rare Lung Diseases at the University Hospital Giessen and Marburg (site in Giessen, Medical Clinic II), has now secured funding on a European level: “Raising Diagnostic Accuracy and Therapeutic Perspectives in Interstitial Lung Diseases (RARE-ILD)”, the research project coordinated by Guenther, will be funded by the „European Joint Program on Rare Diseases“ (EJP-RD) with a total of 1.1 million euros over a period of three years. The EJP-RD is a consortium of nearly all European funding agencies with the objective to research rare diseases. It is co-financed by the European Union.
JLU President Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee cordially congratulated Guenther on securing this highly competitive funding: “Especially these times of the current corona pandemic clearly show how important Lung Research Giessen actually is. I am truly delighted that the urgently required research of rare lung diseases by Giessen-based researchers is further strengthened by the joint project RARE-ILD also on a European level.”
Firstly, objective of the RARE-ILD project is to find new biomarkers for an earlier and accurate diagnosis of the relevant type of ILD. Secondly, the researchers want to analyze underlying pathomechanisms in order to be able to develop new therapeutic principles. Participants include leading study groups from the fields of gene sequencing, analysis of respiratory condensates, “big data“ as well as artificial intelligence from Germany, Spain, France, Great Britain, and Israel. In addition to heading this consortium and a European ILD register/biobank affiliated with this consortium, professor Guenther will investigate the diagnostic usability of respiratory condensates and the so-called “electronic nose”.
With this method, samples of molecules exhaled by the patients are collected with the help of mobile devices and compared using data processing software. This is supposed to enable a possibly early, less invasive and specific diagnosis. Previous studies of the group already showed promising approaches when it came to distinguishing healthy patients from patients with lung disease. In a large European patient cohort and with what is referred to as a “Sniffphone” - a novel device that won an award from the European Respiratory Society –, the usability of this approach is now to be examined.
The samples and data required for analysis are to be collected through the European ILD register/biobank, where leading clinical ILD centers in Europe are united. This ILD register is coordinated by the “European IPF Network“– a network for which Guenther secured funding from the European Commission already in the past. “Here, in connection with the auto-mated UGMLC Giessen Biobank, which is also currently being developed, in the ‘Center for Infectious Genomics of the Lung‘, a pioneering connection of detailed clinical information, systemic acquisition of the most varied biomaterials with translational research activities and artificial intelligence is established,” professor Guenther, who is also the head of the biobank at the DZL site Giessen, suggests.
Interstitial lung diseases (ILDs) are a very heterogeneous group of diseases characterized particularly by scarring of the delicate walls of the alveoli. The remodeling of lung tissue ul-timately leads to reduced elasticity of the lung and disruption of gas exchange. Consequently, the main symptom is an increase in dyspnea, which occurs with physical stress in the early stages and, with progression of the disease, also when resting, and will eventually require oxygen therapy.
Treatment presents a significant challenge as the causes are still unknown in about two thirds of all cases. In one third of the cases, external factors are known to trigger the disease. These include primarily the inhalation of organic or inorganic substances, adverse reactions to medication, and infections.
Prof. Dr. Andreas Guenther
Head of the Center for Interstitial and Rare Lung Diseases
University Clinic Giessen and Marburg GmbH, site Giessen
Telephone: 0641 98542502
E-mail: andreas.guenther@innere.med.uni-giessen.de
Source: JLU
