Internationally renowned for pioneering, multi-disciplinary research, the Thrombosis Research Institutes comprise two independent charitable foundations based in London, United Kingdom and Bangalore, India.

 

Biomarkers To Identify Risk Of Cardiovascular Disease:

The purpose of this project is to develop a biomarker which can reliably and accurately predict the incidence of cardiovascular disease.
(A biomarker is a tool that enables early identification of ‘high risk’ individuals thereby allowing prompt diagnosis and therapy assessment.)

It is, currently, extremely difficult for medical staff to accurately evaluate even those patients who are showing early symptoms of the disease. This is because known markers are only released into the blood once irreversible damage has occurred.

Coronary heart disease (CHD), the most common form of cardiovascular disease, is a multifunctional disease with approximately 300 variables whose interaction depends on the risk of disease occurrence. Different biological systems are involved in CHD and their imbalance can either cause or accelerate the disease.

The advent of proteomics has revolutionised clinical research into this disease area. By allowing the simultaneous analysis of a large number of proteins and peptides, proteomic technologies now provide a real hope for early diagnosis and therapeutic response.

Using the most advanced techniques, scientists at the Thrombosis Research Institute are working on identifying novel nano-peptides as biomarkers of CHD, as well as a number of lipid-associated inflammatory bio-markers.

Projects currently underway include the following:

  • The development of urine based assay for early diagnosis of CHD
  • The role of lipid-associated inflammatory markers in Asian Indian families
  • Identifying novel biomarkers for early diagnosis of CHD among Indian population using Surface Enhanced Laser Desorption Ionization Time of Flight (SELDI – TOF)
  • Oxidative stress and atherosclerosis: role of myeloperoxidase
  • Evaluation of CMV genotype and estimation of viral load in subjects affected with CHD
  • Cardiovascular risk stratification of healthy subjects with a family history of CHD based on Framingham risk score and their correlation with biomarkers
  • Neopterin and its role in CHD