Key information

•    Funding programme / Programme de financement: RHU (PIA)
•    Coordinator / Coordinateur: Jérôme HONNORAT
•    Partners’ list / Liste des partenaires :
o    Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (Institut NeuroMyoGène et Laboratoire de Biométrie et de Biologie Evolutive)
o    EUROIMMUN
o    Institut du Cerveau et de la Moelle Epinière
o    INSERM - Centre de Physiopathologie Toulouse Purpan
o    Centre Léon Berard
o    Hospices civils de Lyon
o    Institut Cochin

•    Budget : 25 M€
•    Grant / Subvention : 7.3 M€
•    Début – Fin : 01/12/2019 – 31/11/2024

 

Site web :   https://www.rhu-betpsy.fr/

Context

Autoimmune encephalitis (AE) and paraneoplastic neurological syndromes (PNS) are rare neuroimmune syndromes with a wide range of clinical presentation but without pathognomonic clinical sign facilitating the diagnosis. Moreover, these syndromes are probably under diagnosed with only 300 patients diagnosed in 2018 out of 800 predicted.
Although rare, the diagnosis of AE or PNS is essential, as despite severe neurological symptoms, patients can be cured by appropriate immunotherapy. These syndromes are characterized by the presence in the serum and cerebrospinal fluid of autoantibodies directed against neuronal targets. These autoantibodies are highly specific of AE and PNS and can be used as biomarkers of the disease.

Objectives

The BETPSY project aims to identify new biomarkers with their signaling pathways to produce diagnostic tools, to create new strategies to investigate mechanisms involved in immune diseases, and to design animal models. We will draw from our expertise built over 20 years in AE and PNS. The purpose of our project is to use a unique patient cohort constituted from two French reference centers on rare neurological syndromes to identify new antigenic targets and to validate biomarkers of the disease as well as to identify genetic hallmarks of the patients. The BETPSY project will make it possible to better characterize AE and PNS patients to identify new diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers and develop new diagnostic kits.

Expected impact and results

The project will lead to the development of new diagnostic tools for a better and early diagnosis of these two diseases. The early diagnosis will lead to a better management of the patients and to a treatment improvement.

 

LIP's contribution

LIP supported the project leader during the set-up phase: definition of the project's outlines, coordination of the administrative and financial aspects of the project, advice on drafting, proposal of a governance model. LIP continues to support the consortium in the management of the project on administrative, legal and financial aspects.