NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Myriad RBM, a wholly owned subsidiary of Myriad Genetics, today said it is collaborating with Institut Pasteur to field test Myriad RBM's TruCulture as a point-of-care blood collection and immune response monitoring method and to stratify patients with active and latent tuberculosis.
Funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to Institut Pasteur, the proof-of-concept study will evaluate patients affiliated with the South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative clinical study sites and who have latent or active TB. Using Myriad RBM's MAP platform, the partners aim to discover protein biomarkers that are crucial in regulating immune system response.
In a statement, Matthew Albert, co-coordinator of Milieu Interieur and director of the immunology department at Institut Pasteur, said that earlier studies support the use of the TruCulture system in settings with limited resources, "and may help us improve the diagnosis of TB and accelerate the development of new drugs and vaccines to treat the disease."
The TruCulture system captures immune cell activity and uses a single, self-contained tube for whole blood collection and culture.
Myriad RBM President Ralph McDade added that the collaboration will result in better treatments and better support for vaccine clinical trials. "If we are successful, TruCulture may prove to be useful in a multitude of field-based, point-of-care applications, leading to improved patient care," he said.