BioPersMed Metabolic and Cardio Cohort

Challenge

Integrated biomarker development for early detection and more effective management and targeted treatment of common diseases associated with postindustrial societies is of increasing importance.
The main challenges in these postindustrial societies are falling birth rates, ongoing increase in the percentage of elderly citizens, dramatic rise of obesity, major increases in the incidence of cardio-vascular disease, diabetes and liver disease. These factors lead to a reduction of the quality of life and economic productivity of millions of people.

Thus, globally there is an urgent need for large cohorts, especially long-term data for untreated persons at risk. In this context, diagnostic biomarkers for screening of diseases, early and improved diagnostics, estimate of the prognosis of the diseases, detection of the recurrence of diseases and the therapeutic monitoring of diseases, thus biomarkers for personalized medicine are required.

Even if there are numerous novel biomarkers, scarce correlation or transfer from bench to bedside are available.

Technology

The BioPersMed Cardio Cohort is a cohort of more than 1000 prospective oligo-symptomatic patients with cardiovascular risk factors. It consists of a collection of different sample materials of high quality and quantity with a comprehensive clinical phenotyping and long-term observation of persons and a multidisciplinary risk characterization, considering also future issues like eye or muscle changes.

The cohort is based on the quality principles of the Biobank Graz at Medical University of Graz, following standards and guidelines published by WHO/IARC and ISBER as well as the upcoming ISO standards for biobanks. A management system in accordance with EN/ISO 9001:2008 guarantees highly standardized and quality assured sample handling and storage.

The linkage between clinical data and the samples allows an exact allocation of clinical factors also for future examinations and treatments.

Advantages:

• Joint characterization in an interdisciplinary team of cardiologists, endocrinologists and hepatologists of the Medical University of Graz in close cooperation with Charité Berlin.
• Different, partially rare biospecimen (blood, saliva, urine) are available.
• A large spectrum of patients with risk factors, healthy and ill persons is included.
• Long-term observation with excellent characterization.

Analyses of the cohort are available for companies in the context of cooperation projects with the Medical University of Graz. Further expansion of the cohort and the inclusion of new parameters is planned.

Commercial Opportunity

Collaboration

Development Status

Recruiting of a cohort of prospective oligo-symptomatic patients with cardiovascular risk factors and data-cleaning has been finished. The baseline-dataset allows first cross-sectional analyses for identification and validation of biomarkers as well as correlation of biomarkers with clinical data, functional and imaging parameters. Continuous follow-ups after 2 and 4 years with complete clinical phenotyping have already started, in order to obtain a complete clinical phenotyping.

Patent Situation

The BioPersMed Cardio Cohort is the collection of clinical material stored in the Biobank Graz. Therefore, no patent is filed. It results from the project BioPersMed, performed within the Austrian COMET program of the BMVIT and the BMWFJ as well as the federal state of Styria. The Medical University of Graz has rights of use for the samples. The cohort is available in the framework of cooperation projects.

Further Reading

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