University of Liverpool

<p><strong>Overview</strong></p>
<p>For advancement of learning and ennoblement of life - This has been our mission since the University was founded in 1881. To this day, these values focus our efforts as we strive to achieve our ambitions and tackle the grand challenges of the age.</p>
<p><strong>Research</strong></p>
<p>Research is the key to solving our world’s greatest challenges. It can make a positive difference – to individuals, industries, economies and entire countries. It can change the world.</p>
<p>We are committed to driving research excellence and innovation on a global scale. With 81% of our research ranked ‘world-leading’ and ‘internationally excellent’ in the latest Research Excellence Framework (REF), we are addressing some of the world’s toughest challenges.</p>
<p>We have gained recognition for international research excellence in personalised health, advanced materials, and infectious disease. Our strength lies in bringing together academics from across all our faculties to produce research that is globally relevant, as evident in our digital research, an emerging area of strength.</p>
<p><strong>Industry Partnerships</strong></p>
<p>The University of Liverpool is in a strong position to develop innovative solutions and approaches to tackle many of today’s complex social, economic and environmental challenges, for business, industry and even world economies.</p>
<p>Exchanging knowledge and expertise are an integral part of the University and accelerate the utilisation of our research achievements, which are at the forefront of scientific development worldwide.</p>
<p>Importantly, our research is enhanced through partnerships we have with a wide-range of private, public, and third-sector organisations. These partnerships are a key way of translating our groundbreaking research to real situations, while helping organisations to accelerate innovation and economic growth.</p>
<p>By facilitating access to our expertise, facilities and networks, we offer the means to transform ideas into creative solutions, improved performance, new technologies, strategies, applications, products or skills.</p>


<h1 id="background">Background</h1>
<p>Neutrophils are the first line of defence against bacterial infection and formation of neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) is an important protective mechanism. However, NETs can also cause harm by exposing cytotoxic histones and promoting intravascular coagulation. Although increasingly considered as important therapeutic targets, there is currently no robust measure of NETs formation to inform clinical care and enable precision medicine in patients on the intensive care unit (ICU).</p>
<h1 id="technology-overview">Technology Overview</h1>
<p>Researchers at the University of Liverpool have established a novel assay by incubating patient plasma with neutrophils to directly induce and measure NETs-formation. This is different from currently available assays, which primarily detect NETs-breakdown products. Using this assay in a prospective cohort of 341 ICU patients, the researchers found that the degree of NETs formation is significantly associated with disease severity and independently predicted development of disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) and mortality.</p>
<p>This assay also enabled identification of interleukin-8 (IL-8) as a major factor that drives NETosis through mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activation. Inhibiting IL-8 or MAPK significantly reduced NETs formation. Therefore, this assay can inform on the <em>in vivo</em> capacity for NETs formation and its inducing factors to enable improved therapeutic targeting strategies for ICU patients.</p>
<h1 id="benefits">Benefits</h1>
<ul>
<li>Directly measures NETs-formation</li>
<li>Predicts DIC development and mortality</li>
<li>Enables targeted treatment and personalised medicine</li>
</ul>
<h1 id="applications">Applications</h1>
<ul>
<li>ICU patient care</li>
<li>Precision medicine</li>
</ul>
