The European collaborative project PreDicta was launched in October 2010 in Athens (Greece). The €7,8 million initiative funded in large part by the European Commission  will endeavour to answer a simple but unanswered question: Why do asthma symptoms persist?

Based on the observation that childhood asthma usually occurs after a viral respiratory tract infection, the central hypothesis of the project is that repeated, acute infection-mediated events may reprogram the immune system to predispose towards a chronic inflammation pattern.

The PreDicta consortium integrates 14 partners from 9 European countries that will work together during five years under the coordination of Prof Nikos Papadopoulos from the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Leading core units of the consortium have substantially contributed to our current understanding of the role of respiratory infections in asthma, the immuno-inflammatory processes involved and the development of diagnostic and therapeutic approaches for this disease. This academic effort employing the latest technologies of molecular biology, virology and cytology is complemented by the participation of BIOMAY, an Austrian company fully dedicated to the development of novel diagnostic and immunotherapeutic approaches for allergic diseases and asthma.

The final objective of PreDicta is, by the end of the programme, to be able to predict more accurately the predisposing risk factors for the development of respiratory allergies and to interfere more effectively with the disease process by targeting causative agents rather than symptoms.

Predicta FP7 contract no: 260895
www.predicta.eu
Predicta’s presentation video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZosDQnwKMw