The PERAID project proposes to implement personalized medicine (PM) in severe infectious diseases, specifically focusing on the life-threatening necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTI) as well as the large heterogeneous group of sepsis patients.
Personalized medicine is a neglected, albeit much desired, development in the field of acute infectious diseases. The patient population is highly heterogeneous with different pathogens, pathogenic mechanisms, as well as varying predisposing host factors, and importantly, a dysregulated host response to infection is directly linked to severity and outcome of severe infections, i.e. sepsis and NSTI. Hence, tailored immunotherapy in stratified patients holds great potential.
PERAID builds on the advances and resources created in the EU FP7-project INFECT, including the world's largest patient cohort on NSTI (Scandinavian patients enrolled by PERAID's partners from Denmark, Norway and Sweden), biobank, multi-omics data, and pathophysiologic models. Using these resources and an extended Nordic consortium enables PERAID to advance to the next phase of implementing PM in NSTI as well as extend the efforts into the sepsis field. Six scientific workpackages (WP) are designed to address the key objectives:
WP1. Create and manage a Nordic platform for PM in infectious diseases to enable the establishment of harmonized, comprehensive and accessible databases for clinical and omics data, as well as biobanks for patients with NSTI and sepsis, and an interdisciplinary knowledge centre embedded in a Responsible Research & Innovation (RRI) framework.
WP2. Identify disease signatures in NSTI and sepsis through the analyses of omics data.
WP3. Assess disease signature associated biomarkers for their value in patient stratification and/or as targets for intervention.
WP4. Design novel patient stratification and trial concepts for tailored therapy by use of omics-identified disease signatures data as well as registry data.
WP5. Develop and deploy innovative clinical support tools for patient stratification and bedside decisions suitable for the emergency and intensive care setting.
WP6. Conduct exploratory clinical studies using the patient stratification concept and trial design.
The results are likely to benefit patient outcome through improved tailored therapies. We are in a unique position to conduct the proposed studies including the creation of a Nordic platform, which will greatly boost PM in infectious diseases.
