Viva in Vitro and Vall d’Hebron will study the potential of functional NLRP3 biomarkers to anticipate therapeutic response in multiple sclerosis

Viva in Vitro Diagnostics, a Spanish biomedical company specialised in functional immunological information, NLRP3 biomarkers and precision immunology, has signed a scientific collaboration agreement with Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and the Vall d’Hebron Research Institute (VHIR) to develop a research project on multiple sclerosis.

The study, entitled “Study of the NLRP3 inflammasome as a predictive biomarker of response to S1P receptor-modulating therapies in patients with multiple sclerosis”, will be led by Dr. Manuel Comabella López, principal investigator of the project, principal investigator of the Clinical Neuroimmunology Group at VHIR and neurologist at the Catalonia Multiple Sclerosis Centre (Cemcat), a reference centre for the care and research of multiple sclerosis.

The research will assess whether the functional activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and different associated inflammatory biomarkers can provide early information on treatment response in patients with multiple sclerosis treated with sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor, S1P, modulators.

In current clinical practice, the assessment of response to treatments for multiple sclerosis relies mainly on clinical and radiological follow-up. In some cases, specialists may need up to one year to determine with sufficient accuracy whether the disease is adequately controlled or whether the therapeutic strategy needs to be reconsidered.

The project aims to generate scientific evidence that will make it possible to study new complementary tools to reduce this period of uncertainty and move towards earlier and more personalised clinical decisions.

A study with clinical samples from patients and healthy controls

The research will be conducted as an observational, analytical, longitudinal and retrospective study. To this end, it will use existing biological samples from patients with multiple sclerosis, stored and safeguarded by VHIR, together with samples from healthy controls.

The VHIR Clinical Neuroimmunology Group will be responsible for the selection and clinical characterisation of the patients. The research will draw on the expertise of Dr. Manuel Comabella, neurologist at Cemcat and principal investigator of the project, a leading expert in the study of the immunological mechanisms involved in multiple sclerosis and in the development of biomarkers with potential clinical utility.

“Having biomarkers capable of anticipating treatment response is one of the main unmet needs in multiple sclerosis. If we can identify at an early stage which patients will respond less well to a particular therapy, we will be able to move towards much more personalised medicine and make therapeutic decisions before disease activity appears,” explains Dr. Manuel Comabella.

Viva in Vitro Diagnostics will conduct the experimental analyses at its facilities at the Murcia Scientific Park. The company will apply its VIVA-ELISA® technology, based on the functional measurement of NLRP3 activation through ASC specks, as well as other mediators associated with the inflammatory response.

“This new collaboration reflects the relationship of trust that we have built with Vall d’Hebron and VHIR and allows us to expand the study of NLRP3 to a highly complex immune-mediated disease such as multiple sclerosis. Having a clinical and scientific partner of this level strengthens our strategy of turning functional immunological information into useful tools for research, therapeutic development and, in the future, clinical decision-making,” says Toni Vilaplana, CEO of Viva in Vitro Diagnostics.

For Dr. Verónica Cánovas, Director of Biotechnology Development at Viva in Vitro Diagnostics and collaborating researcher on the project, “this collaboration combines Vall d’Hebron’s clinical and neuroimmunological expertise with our ability to functionally measure NLRP3 activity. The first objective will be to demonstrate the feasibility and reproducibility of the analysis in the available samples and to establish a solid basis for expanding the study.”

Immunological information for more personalised medicine

The NLRP3 inflammasome is a molecular complex of the innate immune system that participates in the regulation of the inflammatory response. Due to its involvement in different inflammatory, autoimmune, immune-mediated and neurodegenerative diseases, NLRP3 has become an area of growing interest for biomedical research and the development of new therapeutic strategies.

The project will make it possible to study whether the functional readout of this immunological pathway can provide relevant information on patients’ progression and their response to S1P receptor-modulating therapies. The research does not start from previous clinical results nor does it intend to replace current medical criteria, but rather to generate evidence to determine the potential utility of these biomarkers in future studies.

Ongoing collaboration between Viva in Vitro Diagnostics and Vall d’Hebron

The new project expands the existing scientific relationship between Viva in Vitro Diagnostics, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and VHIR. Since 2025, the three entities have also been collaborating on a translational validation study in sepsis, led at Vall d’Hebron by Dr. Ricard Ferrer, head of the Intensive Care Department and of the Shock, Organ Dysfunction and Resuscitation (SODIR) group at VHIR.