European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients Associations

Updates on Innovative Research for Allergy and Respiratory Disease in the European Union: MeDALL (Mechanisms of the Development of ALLergy)

European Parliament Brussels – June 17, 2014

Charles AUFFRAY cauffray@eisbm.orgEuropean Institute for Systems Biology & Medicine - CNRS-ENS-UCBLUniversité de Lyon - France

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(2011) Allergy 66, 596-604 - http://medall-fp7.eu

Major achievements of MeDALL

•Large scale harmonization of allergy phenotypes in 13 birth cohorts (more than 43,000 children followed up since birth - 4 to 18 years)

•Asthma, rhinitis and eczema have common mechanisms and risk factors (classical and novel phenotypes support unifying phenotype view)

Pinart et al. (2014) Lancet Respiratory Medicine 2:131-140

•Development of knowledge base repository of MeDALL results (support integration of multiple data types to define allergy handprints)

Major achievements of MeDALL

•Novel chip implemented for comprehensive screening of 176 allergens (detection of pathogenic IgE and protective IgG)

•First phase results from epigenetics and functional genomics platforms (first genome wide epigenetic analysis identified 7 allergy-related hits)

•Advances made in functional immunology and animal models of allergy

•Initiation of translation of MeDALL results in healthcare in Scandinavia (for early diagnosis, prevention and therapy)

•Harmonization of MeDALL questionnaires and informed consent forms

Measures to Support Innovative Research that Benefit Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients

Move from restricted informed consent to open informed consent

Move from heterogeneous descriptions to harmonization and standardization

Move from restricted ownership to open access custody of samples and data

Support the formation of a network of systems medicine centers in Horizon 2020

Integrative Systems Biology & Medicine

Predictive, Preventive, Personalized, Participatory Medicine

Participatory medicine: a driving force for revolutionizing healthcareHood L, Auffray C. (2013) Genome Med 5:110

I don’t know where to look for these based on references and I’ve had calls with speakers in between searching.

Patient contributionsto MeDALL

• Promotion to the EU institutions, European and international network of patient groups & EFA partnerships

• Dissemination in lay language on the project’s final and interim results and what they mean for patients

• Impact in policy and care• Patient perspective

MeDALL’scontributions to patients

• Patient questions:– Why? Why me/my kid? How? What can I do? Can I do

something else than take lots of medicines? Will I always have it? Will my kids get it? Can it get severe? Can I die? Can I live a normal life? How does environment around me affect….

• MeDALL offers an increased understanding of allergy– Adherence– Early & correct diagnosis– Better targeted treatment– Prevention???– Cure???

Moving towardscomprehensive national

programmesWP10 Translational integration of systems biology into healthcare•MeDALL WP10 will create a template for creating national allergy programmes in Europe that is adaptable for different contexts

– EFA will ensure patient perspective for communicating with the general public, allergy patients and policymakers

Policy Approach

WP11 Dissemination•Interpretation of studyresults into lay terms•Dissemination of projectresults for policy-makers and public

MeDALL seeks promotionof health and prevention of allergic diseases, particularly in children!

Thank you for your attention!

European Federation of Allergy and Airways Diseases Patients' Associations  (EFA)

EFA 35 Rue du Congrès1000 Brussels, Belgium 

www.efanet.org