VαMPiRE

The goal of VαMPiRE is to validate the association of alfa-synuclein (α-Syn) isoforms, and other biomarkers transported by neuron- derived extracellular vesicles (NDEVs), involved in the prevention or facilitation of α-Syn aggregation, that bring about cell death in the substantia nigra causing Parkinson’s Disease (PD).

After an initial review phase using existing data and biological materials from previous projects, VαMPiRE will assess traditional and novel NDEV isolation techniques, characterize NDEVs, perform morphological analysis of α- Syn, and develop the neccesary tools to profile biomarkers. All this information, together with clinical data will be processed using a proprietary (AI) algorithm. The project will analyse samples from 600 PD patients and 600 controls generated by by 5 different clinical partners over two tear period.

The final aim is to design and validate an accessible and low cost IVD test, able to detect PD in early pre-clinical stages.The final aim is to design and validate an accessible and low cost IVD test, able to detect PD in early pre-clinical stages. The results of this test, together with the other information in the AI algorithm, can be used for screening, diagnosis, disease evolution monitoring and therapeutic guidance. Such screening results could be confirmed by other means such as Dopamine Transporter (DaT) imaging diagnosis.

Project Budget: 7,928,632.83 €
Linkcare total funding: 1,619,062.50 €
Program: HORIZON-HLTH-2024-DISEASE-03-two-stage
Start Date: 01/11/2024
End Date: 30/10/2028
Grant Agreement: 101156370

With the support of: