According to the World Health Organization, lower respiratory tract infections are the leading cause of deaths in lower and middle income countries. As a major outcome of respiratory tract infections, pneumonia is ranked second of all the principal causes of death in Singapore, contributing to 19.4% of all deaths in 2015. Pneumonia is also the leading cause of childhood mortality, accounting for 15% of all deaths of children below five years of age.
Effective diagnosis and treatment of pneumonia is critical in reducing mortality and morbidity caused by respiratory tract infections. Current diagnostic methods have limitations for reflecting pneumonia severity in real-time, and for detecting lung tissue damage at early stage of pneumonia. To this effect, a novel biomarker, cANGPTL4, has been identified in disease models of pneumonia and validated by both Western blot and ELISA for pneumonia detection in patient bio-fluid samples.
Project Deliverables
The team aims to analyse cANGPTL4 expression in non-invasive and easily accessible clinical samples (e.g. sputum and serum) from pneumonia patients of different clinical backgrounds to (i) generate a commercially applicable ELISA-based diagnostic kit and (ii) validate its sensitivity and specificity for assessment of pneumonia severity.
Principal Investigator: A/Prof CHOW Vincent T.K
Institution: National University Health System
NHIC Ref: NHIC-I2D-1509081
