MICROB-PREDICT

The MICROB-PREDICT project investigates the human microbiome to identify predictors and mechanisms associated with the development of decompensation of cirrhosis and progression to acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) and death. The project will last six and a half years, starting from 1st of January 2019. Project unites the expertise from 22 different European partners (hospitals, research foundations and institutes, patient and physician associations, and small-and-medium-sized enterprises, SMEs) and has received funding of 15 million EUR from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 825694.

The main goals of the project are integration of existing clinical, laboratory, microbiome and multi-omics data from 12 cohorts, combining more than 200,000 data points from more than 10,000 subjects, development of microbiome-based tests for better stratification of cirrhosis patients leading to personalized prediction and prevention of decompensation and ACLF and more personalized allocation to treatment, validation of new microbiome-based markers in a clinical trial to enable prediction of response and thereby optimization of rifaximin or albumin treatment, design of modern, effective nanobiosensors as useful clinical tools to set the foundation for personalized therapy, involvement of world-leading microbiome specialists, technology leaders and clinical experts for scientific excellence, the European Liver Patients Association (ELPA) and the European Association for the study of the Liver (EASL).

The expected impact of the project is improved specificity of diagnostic tools, better prediction and thereby prevention of decompensation and ACLF, stratifying and personalizing the treatment of decompensated liver cirrhosis and ACLF, increasing survival and decreasing health care burden and novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches to stimulate innovation in the European healthcare industry. One of the partners in the project that is responsible for communication and dissemination is European Liver Patients’ Association.