In blood samples detect diseases before onset

With blood samples the diseases already before the outbreak on the track

31.01.2012

In the blood picture of the patients many signs of illness can be identified fast. A pilot project of the University of Würzburg and the Bavarian Blood Transfusion Service should elicit further diagnostic possibilities from the blood in research work. The institutions have concluded a cooperation for this purpose. Even before the onset of illness, certain markers in the blood can be detected.

Identify diseases before the outbreak
Today many diseases can be detected in the blood. Physicians and scientists agree: The blood picture has a lot more secrets in itself and could be better used in the future in the sense of early diagnosis. The future visionaries of the University of Würzburg and the blood transfusion service of the Bavarian Red Cross (BRK) have therefore decided to cooperate in order to make future diseases visible before the actual outbreak. The University Hospital will soon be able to access approximately three million plasma samples from the BRK Blood Transfusion Service for research purposes. An agreement was solemnly signed by both sides on Monday.

Blood samples are compared
Scientists at the University of Würzburg are the first German university to compare older blood donations from patients before a disease broke out in the subjects. Thereafter, the donations are compared with the samples after the onset of the disease. Researchers can compare and evaluate the blood levels of diseased donors before and after the onset of a disease.

Chance for early diagnosis and cancer therapy
„This is a unique opportunity for science“ said the head of the Center for Biomaterials and Databases of the University of Würzburg, Dr. med. Roland Jahns. The first signs of heart disease can be found, for example, in the blood serum of patients who later develop heart failure (heart failure). Before the pathological inability of the heart - to transport the required amount of blood into the atria without an increase in pressure - is developed, so-called peptide molecules appear in the blood picture. These become visible before the affected person notices first symptoms such as coughing, shortness of breath, poor performance or water in the legs. Biomarkers also play a major role in the treatment of cancer. This is how biomarkers can help, „to customize the cancer therapy for many patients“, explains Professor Jahns. These and other biomarkers want to explore the Würzburg physicians more intense. Thus have „we have the chance to discover previously unknown biomarkers“ explain the scientists. The biobanks are one „sheer inexhaustible treasure“ for health research, says the renowned cardiologist.

Numerous donors agreed to release
The Biodata Bank of the Bavarian Blood Transfusion Service has existed since 2006. With the consent of the blood donors, the experts have stored two milliliters of blood per donation for more than five years in order to make it available, among other things, to science. In advance, every third blood donor had agreed to the storage. According to the BRK, the world's largest biodiversity database was created in terms of blood samples.

Since the summer of last year (2011), one of five German biomaterials and databases has been set up at the Würzburg site. The centers are collecting new tissue and fluid samples from patients. The remaining four biodata banks are located in Berlin, Kiel, Aachen and Heidelberg. However, only the University Hospital Würzburg works together with a Bluspende database. (Sb)

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Picture: Rainer Sturm