Transcriptional signatures for diagnosis and assessing disease severity in bacterial meningitis.
Current research
- Baylor Institute for Immunology Research, Dallas, USA, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, Dallas, USA
- Researchers:
Dr Damien Chaussabel, Dr Jacques Banchereau, Prof George McCracken, Prof Octavio Ramilo
- Start Date: 01 January 2006
- Type: Scientific
The purpose of this study is to take advantage of innovative transcriptional genomic approaches that we recently developed to identify blood biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of patients with bacterial meningitis. Our rationale is to use a microarray-based systems approach to identify the blood transcriptional signatures in children with meningitis. In addition, these studies will provide a broad analysis of the global host response in bacterial meningitis, which will allow development of a comprehensive perspective of disease pathogenesis and of a means for identification of novel targets for therapeutic intervention.
Our specific aims are:
1) To identify blood transcriptional biomarkers for the diagnosis of bacterial meningitis;
2) To characterize the dynamics of host gene expression over time in patients with bacterial meningitis and its relation to disease pathogenesis;
and
3) To identify prognostic markers and establish a blood transcriptional score of disease severity in patients with bacterial meningitis.