In the UK, Newcastle University and Pfizer are collaborating on a $39.9 million-dollar funded project aimed at developing greater tools for testing patients at the most risk for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, or NAFLD. To read more about NAFLD, click here.
The project is called Liver Investigation: Testing Marker Utility in Steatohepatitis (LITMUS). The idea is that European clinicians and scientists will work together with companies from the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations to develop, validate, and quantify better biomarkers for testing NAFLD. These biomarkers will be extremely helpful in detecting the more severe form of NAFLD, Non-alcoholic Steatohepatitis (NASH). NAFLD is characterized by the accumulation of fat in the liver cells. This causes inflammation, liver scarring, and, worst of all, cirrhosis.
Two of the strongest environmental factors contributing to NAFLD are obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Newcastle University also emphasizes that less than 10 percent of patients with NAFLD will reach cirrhosis or develop cancer. This poses a great challenge with the project because the key is to identify patients with the most severe form the condition, which leads to cirrhosis and cancer. This identification process can take place only by completing liver biopsies in specialized hospitals, which is why more diagnostic tools are needed.
Additionally, according to Quentin Anstey, a co-coordinator of the LITMUS consortium, NAFLD is the most common cause of liver transplants in the US and Europe, often caused by obesity. “LITMUS will unite clinicians and academic experts from centers across Europe with scientists from the leading pharmaceutical companies, all working together to develop and validate new highly accurate blood tests and imaging techniques that can diagnose the severity of liver disease, predict how each patient’s disease will progress, and monitor those changes, better or worse, as they occur,” Anstey said.
The PatientWorthy community is excited about these new diagnostic tools– updated information on rare diseases in general is very tough to find. The faster researchers develop diagnostic tools to detect severe liver damage, the greater chance patients have of receiving the medical care they need. These diagnostic tools may be even more cost effective than specialized hospital visits, which expands access for those in need.
View the original story by 360 DX here.
What do you think of these new developments? How do you think they will affect your health and the health of others? Share your stories, thoughts, and hopes, with the Patient Worthy community!
