Two Canadian Centres of Excellence collaborate to further understand the development of allergic asthma and to monitor the effectiveness of drug intervention.

VANCOUVER, BC- The Centre of Excellence for the Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF Centre) and AllerGen NCE (Allergy, Genes and Environment Network of Centres of Excellence) are working together to develop blood tests that will speed up clinical trials investigating the efficacy of drugs treating allergic disease.

Leveraging the biomarker development expertise of the PROOF Centre, researchers will use blood samples obtained from the AllerGen Clinical Investigator Collaborative (CIC) to identify molecular signals predictive of chronic inflammatory responses in allergic asthmatic adults. The discovery of these signals, also called biomarkers, will ultimately allow for the effective monitoring of promising therapeutics for allergic asthma.

“Such biomarkers, implemented via a simple blood test, will identify subjects who are late asthmatic responders so that they can be pre-selected for clinical trials that examine how effective new pharmacological interventions are in attenuating inflammatory responses to allergen exposure,” says Dr. Scott Tebbutt, Chief Scientific Officer of the PROOF Centre. “By speeding up the selection process, these blood tests will also lower the cost of recruiting asthmatic subjects into clinical trials which normally requires several days of intensive investigation.”

Today, over 50% of Canadian families are directly or indirectly affected by asthma and allergic diseases. Allergic disease place tremendous psychosocial and economic burdens on both Canadians and the healthcare system, costing up to $15 billion annually in emergency department visits, prescribed medications and productivity losses at school and work. Individuals with allergic asthma respond differently to allergen exposure such as pollen, mites, or molds. While some develop an isolated early response, others go on to develop a late response characterized by severe inflammation of the airways that can only be partly reversed by existing drugs.

Dr. Judah Denburg, Scientific Director and CEO of AllerGen NCE says, “This collaboration between two Networks of Centres of Excellence is an imperative step towards understanding the biological mechanisms that lead to allergy-related airway responses in asthmatics. The development of a blood test that can accurately predict late phase allergic responses is especially significant, as this fundamentally different response is believed to contribute to chronic airways inflammation and uncontrolled disease.”

The PROOF Centre and AllerGen NCE anticipate completing the development and validation of a biomarker panel that can predict an asthmatic individual’s response to allergen exposure, and a biomarker panel that can diagnose a late allergic response, by early 2014.

ABOUT PROOF Centre
The Centre of Excellence for the Prevention of Organ Failure (PROOF Centre) accelerates the development of new blood tests to improve all aspects of care for patients with heart, lung and kidney disease. The PROOF Centre is a cross-disciplinary engine of partners representing academia, health care, government, industry, patients and the public, focused on improving health and reducing the enormous socioeconomic burden of heart, lung and kidney disease. The PROOF Centre is a not-for-profit society established in March 2008 by competitive funding from the Networks of Centres of Excellence Secretariat under the Centre of Excellence for Commercialization and Research (NCE CECR) Program. The PROOF Centre is co-hosted by the University of British Columbia and Providence Health Care in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. For more information, visit www.proofcentre.ca.

ABOUT ALLERGEN NCE
AllerGen NCE Inc., the Allergy, Genes and Environment Network, is a national research network dedicated to improving the quality of life for people living with allergic and related immune diseases. AllerGen is funded by Industry Canada through the federal Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) Program. The Network is hosted at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Since inception in 2004, AllerGen has been supporting excellence in research and fostering commercialization, social innovation and knowledge mobilization that will enable Canadians to better prevent, treat and manage allergy, asthma, anaphylaxis and related immune diseases. Leading Canadian experts are working in trans-disciplinary teams, with national and international collaborators, and stakeholder and research partner organizations, to address gaps in knowledge and create new opportunities in diagnostics, therapeutics, healthcare, public health, ethics, policy and patient education. They are also training the next generation of researchers, innovators and clinician-scientists, while collaboratively working to reduce the morbidity, mortality and socio-economic impacts of allergic diseases. For more information, visit www.allergen-nce.ca.

For any further information, please contact:

Janet Wilson-McManus
Chief Operating officer
PROOF Centre of Excellence
T 604-806-8328
E Janet.Wilson-McManus@hli.ubc.ca

Diana Royce, EdD
Managing Director and COO
AllerGen NCE Inc.
T 905-525-9140 x26640
E dianaroyce@sympatico.ca