Protein markers discovered using MASStermind platform will be validated in clinical trials.
Pronota received a €1.4 million (about $2 million) grant from the Institute for the Promotion of Innovation by Science and Technology in Flanders (IWT) to advance biomarkers for the management of heart failure. The company says it has already identified and independently verified a set of protein biomarker candidates for acute heart failure.
Pronota will initially validate and biologically characterize novel protein markers discovered using its MASStermind™ platform. The company will then develop generic immunoassays for lead candidates to be validated in a clinical study prior to regulatory submission.
Among Pronota’s discoveries one protein in particular, designated ProM22, accurately discriminated, in tested samples, between patients with dyspnea due to acute heart failure and patients suffering from dyspnea due to other causes. The company says data so far suggests that the diagnostic performance of ProM22 is equal to both BNP and NT-proBNP, the natriuretic peptides currently used to help rule out acute heart failure in dyspnea patients.
The MASStermind discovery platform has been developed to enable the identificaton and relative quantitation of proteins at the low-to-sub nanogram-per-mL level directly from complex biological samples including clinical plasma and serum. This represents at least a 100-fold increase in sensitivity and a significant increase in proteome coverage compared with other unbiased discovery methods, Pronota states.
The firm is applying its advanced biomarker technologies to a number of in-house discovery programs to build a pipeline of protein diagnostic tests. Programs are currently ongoing in the fields of acute heart failure, sepsis, preeclampsia, and ovarian cancer.
