Breakthrough in the diagnosis of immunity

Doctor of Medical Sciences Andrey Prodeus: "We have made a breakthrough in the field of diagnostics of the state of the immune system"

At the end of April, a solemn ceremony of awarding the degree of "Honorary Doctor of the I. Kant BFU" was held in the Cathedral. Among those to whom it was awarded is the head of the Department of Clinical Immunology and Allergology of the Higher Medical School, co–host of the TV program "Live healthy" on Channel One, research professor at the I. Kant BFU Medical Institute, Doctor of Medical Sciences Andrey Prodeus. 

In an interview kantiana.ru he spoke about a recently published scientific article and how a new method of checking the state of immunity can change the perception of the quality of diagnosis.

– Andrey Petrovich, what is your latest work dedicated to? What problems does it raise?

– Everyone knows that the immune system largely determines the state of human health. But at the same time, it is very difficult for us to understand whether our immune system is working well or poorly. And it is important to know this, because if it does not work well, there are serious risks of infectious diseases or – even worse – cancer. And the article, which was written together with Russian and foreign colleagues, just answers the question of how you can quickly find out whether you have problems with immunity or not.

– What is the novelty of the method?

– The novelty is that this is the only system in the world that evaluates not only the presence or absence of certain markers, but also their number. This, first of all. And secondly, this method is very cheap and therefore accessible. Testing can be carried out in almost any laboratory that has basic equipment for genetic analysis, the so-called PCR analysis (polymerase chain reaction). We have created a test system that makes it possible to quickly and inexpensively investigate development markers T- and B-cells, and showed that the effectiveness of this study is higher than that of many much more expensive research methods. The test will cost only 450-500 rubles. This technique has already been patented, and they are trying to buy it all over the world. And this is not surprising. In fact, this is a breakthrough in the diagnosis of the immune system. Before that, there was simply no way to assess immunity not only in qualitative, but in quantitative terms.
And what else is important. Now many people want to "boost immunity". And there are enough drugs on the drug market that promise to do this. But the question is whether you need to increase your immunity. Maybe everything is fine with him, and the reason for his poor health lies in something else? Our tests give a quick answer to this question, leaving unscrupulous manufacturers of various kinds of means to "increase immunity" out of business. A screening test is, of course, not a panacea, but it allows you to identify the problem long before it makes itself felt. And this is very important.

– Where can such a test be done?

– The method is officially registered by Roszdravnadzor, and will now be introduced into practical medicine. Recently, at a meeting of Russian pediatric oncologists, hematologists and immunologists, clinical recommendations were adopted, which include the use of our tests. I would also like to draw your attention to the fact that the Kaliningrad Region is one of the first to introduce a program of neonatal screening (that is, newborn screening) for immunodeficiency. We have an agreement with the Medical Institute of the BFU named after I. Kant, there are sponsorship programs. And we really hope that in 2019 all children born in the Kaliningrad region will undergo this screening. In addition, patients – both adults and children – will undergo an immunodeficiency test according to our methodology, as prescribed by a doctor. There are appropriate equipment and competent specialists in the clinics of the region.

– How was the work on the creation of a new methodology carried out?

– This is the fruit of research by scientists from several institutions, in particular, the Moscow Children's Hospital No. 9 named after Speransky, the Novosibirsk Institute of Bioorganic and Fundamental Medicine, the I. Kant BFU. Now it is difficult to do research related to genetics and immunology in one place. A symbiosis of technology, knowledge and clinic is needed. As for the I. Kant BFU, here, as I have already said, it is planned to create a kind of springboard on which the new system will be worked out. In the future, the local experience will spread to other regions of Russia and in general – around the world.

– Are new scientific articles being prepared for publication?

– Yes, of course. One of the works will be devoted to neonatal screening. He is very, very important. When a child is born, he may look perfectly healthy, but at the same time he may have problems with immunity. And the sooner we discover these problems, the sooner we will be able to take action. The second work, which is being prepared for publication, is devoted to the fight against leukemia, blood cancers. With blood cancers, lymphoblastic leukemias – acute and chronic – blood cells suffer, malignant clones arise. And this suppresses the immune response, along with radiation exposure, along with chemotherapy. But we have learned to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment of such conditions quite effectively. And this is also very important, because it shows how protected a person is, whether his body has the ability to fight cancer.

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