The Systems Immunology Research Group at HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged led by Máté Manczinger is participating in a HORIZON-HEALTH-2023-DISEASE-03 project named ID-DarkMatter-NCD. The consortium is coordinated by Thomas Vogl at the Medical University of Vienna and composed of experts in immunology, genomics, and data science. The Systems Immunology Research Group will coordinate the 2nd work package, which focuses on the genetic analysis of patients. The successful kick-off meeting of the project took place at the Medical University of Vienna between 16th and 17th January, 2024.
The primary focus of the project is to unravel the mysterious link between infectious diseases (IDs) and immune-related noncommunicable diseases (IR-NCDs). The key objectives include identifying the IDs responsible for triggering IR-NCDs and disentangling the genetic and environmental factors influencing the transition from IDs to IR-NCDs. To accomplish these goals, the team plans to screen for antibody responses against an impressive 600,000 antigens in 6,000 patients.
The diseases selected for in-depth analysis comprise post-COVID-19-condition, multiple sclerosis, chronic fatigue syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, and inflammatory bowel disease. The team will employ cutting-edge multi-omics approaches and personalized genotyping of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and adaptive immune receptor genes to gain a comprehensive understanding of each patient’s immune profile.
