Noninvasive, Multimodal Inflammatory Biomarker Discovery for Systemic Inflammation (NOVA Study): Protocol for a...

Area of Science:

• Biomarker Discovery
• Translational Medicine
• Inflammation Research

Background:

• Prolonged systemic inflammation is a key factor in chronic inflammatory diseases.
• Daily monitoring of inflammatory biomarkers aids disease management but lacks noninvasive, cost-effective methods.
• A novel, multimodal, noninvasive approach is proposed for systemic inflammation assessment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the correlation between serum inflammatory biomarkers and those measured noninvasively.
• To assess inflammatory biomarkers in urine, sweat, saliva, exhaled breath, stool, and core body temperature.
• To determine the feasibility of noninvasive, multimodal assessment for systemic inflammation.

Main Methods:

• Single-center, cross-sectional study with 20 participants (10 systemic inflammation, 10 controls).
• Collected serum, urine, sweat, saliva, exhaled breath, and stool samples; measured core body temperature.
• Analyzed C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukins (IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α, fractional exhaled nitric oxide, and calprotectin.

Main Results:

• Ethics approval obtained; data collected from February to September 2023.
• Participant demographics: average age 52.8 years, 70% female.
• Full analysis results are expected in 2025.

Conclusions:

• The study investigates the feasibility of noninvasive, multimodal assessment of inflammatory biomarkers.
• Successful noninvasive methods could lead to digital biomarkers for continuous remote monitoring.
• This approach may facilitate early diagnosis and management of inflammatory activity.