Biomarkers to diagnose liver infection

A team of international researchers, in which the National Microbiology Center (CNM) of the Carlos III Health Institute (ISCIII)has managed to identify two biomarkers that could facilitate the Diagnosis of opistorchiasisa liver infection related to an increased risk of developing cholangiocarcinoma, a type of biliary cancer.

The work, published in the magazine Nature Communications, It has aimed to develop rapid diagnostic tests at the point of attention (POC) for parasite infection ‘Opisthorchis viverrini’which has an important presence in the Southeast Asian region, especially in countries such as Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, and that can infect humans through the consumption of raw or little cooked fish.

The development of tools such as a pioneering proteomic microarray, consisting of a chip capable of analyzing diverse biological material and based on the secretoma of the parasite, has allowed to evaluate the response of different antibodies in sera of patients infected with this parasite in these countries.

Proteomic analyzes have enabled the Nine Antigen Identification Candidates for diagnostic improvement, among which a protease type C and an IDH-dependent enzyme of the NADP enzyme, which have shown to have a sensitivity and specificity of more than 80 percent, superior to conventional diagnostic methods.

The CNM-Iciii researcher Javier Sotillo He has stressed that these rapid and standardizable diagnostic tools “could transform the surveillance” of this liver parasite into endemic areas of Southeast Asia.

Thus, he has stressed that they will allow both active infections and cases of cholangiocarcinoma in early stages, which would mean a “crucial innovation” to improve the management, control and prevention of this “highly mortal” disease.

That is why the authors of the study, led by Thai researchers, Americans and Australians, have explained that these two biomarkers could be the basis for creating new serodiagnostic tests for both the aforementioned infection and cancer associated with it, and have opted for a “exhaustive” evaluation in this regard.