Third Party Funds Group - Sub project
Acronym: CAPSyS
Start date : 01.04.2014
End date : 31.03.2017
Community acquired pneumonia (CAP) is a high incidence disease and a major health care cost
driver. Starting as pathogen-driven local inflammation in the lung it jeopardizes the alveolar-
endothelial barrier, often leading to systemic inflammation and sepsis. It is a major objective of this
interdisciplinary project to improve the understanding of the pathogenesis of lung infection and
barrier breakdown from defined pathogen induced lesions to systemic inflammation and to model
the entire process dynamically. We plan to find early diagnostic and prognostic markers and to
computationally investigate the potential effect of early interventions. In this consortium we unite
forces of the 3 major German trial groups (PROGRESS, CAPNETZ, SEPNET) to share large da-
tasets and biobanks and we align with experimental partners (e.g. RIBOLUTION, NGFN, SFB-TR
84) to share cutting edge NGS-data and animal experimental data. As it is difficult to observe the
early local events after pathogen exposure in humans, additional experimental investigations in
humans and mice are designed to close the gap and to enable linking already existing data.
Hence, we undertake deep phenotyping on 60 CAP-patients to be recruited in the ongoing PRO-
GRESS-study with material taken from the lungs (BAL) to profile the transcriptome, proteome, and
the microbiome in the alveoli (SP2). We parallel this by designed mouse experiments with defined
infections and early interventions and read outs of local and systemic inflammation parameters
(SP4). Taken all these data together we build a biomathematical multilayer model for the systemic
(SP1) and local inflammatory reaction (SP3). Special data mining procedures will help to map
cross species and between patient data (SP5). We will finally provide a comprehensive model of
the disease process supporting the development of innovative clinical diagnostic and interventional
strategies.