Molecular Immunodiagnostics

About Us

The Department has been instituted with the primary mission of developing indigenous assays for reproductive health care as a commitment towards translational research. Urine based ELISA kits were prepared for fertility assessment and the technology was transferred to the Industry.

Osteoporosis has emerged as an important and challenging public health care issue globally affecting the quality of lives of elderly men and women. Due to the increase in longevity the prevalence of osteoporosis and associated osteoporotic fractures has increased substantially leading to an enormous socio-economic impact. Being a silent progressive disease it is mostly underdiagnosed and subsequently undertreated. The department is exploring better diagnostics and efficient management of this disease, which are of paramount importance that would ultimately contribute in reducing the burden of osteoporosis related fractures.

The department thus focuses on the studies related to bone health. Biochemical, molecular, genetic, proteomics and immunological approaches are being applied to unravel the pathophysiology of osteoporosis. In house ELISAs for bone turnover markers are also being developed. For their efficient utility, reference norms have been established for these markers in Indian population. Further, the age related changes in these markers and sex steroids have been investigated.

Estrogen plays a key role in regulation of bone mass by controlling the activity of osteoblasts and osteoclasts, the specialized bone cells. Studies pursued for understanding the mechanisms of bone remodeling, differentiation of bone cells and its effects on these processes may aid in
identification of new biomarkers and molecular signatures.

The relationship between the immune system, estrogen deficiency and bone loss is an intriguing and unexplained challenge of the past two decades. The evidence that links immune cells, inflammation, cytokine production and osteoclast formation and activity with particular regard to postmenopausal osteoporosis is also being explored. The changes in pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6) levels during menopausal transition and their relation to bone turnover markers and bone mineral density (BMD) are explored. The department is presently investigating the molecular, immune and cellular mechanisms involved in the pathogenesis of osteoporosis

The bone mineral density (BMD) has strong genetic component. Hence, the polymorphisms in prominent candidate genes such as estrogen receptor, vitamin D receptor and Collagen-type1 alpha 1 genes have been studied in relation to bone mass.

In addition, the link between osteoporosis and cardiovascular disease is being studied using genetic and epigenetic approach.

Thus the multifaceted approaches may provide a better understanding of the pathogenesis of the osteoporosis and basis for novel therapeutic strategies.

People

Department Email Id: immdiagno@nirrh.res.in

Projects

1. Multiplexing of bone markers in an ELISA array format for assessment of bone health (PI: Dr. Meena Desai) Funded by DST 2016-2018
2. Molecular and immune signatures in the pathophysiology of postmenopausal osteoporosis (PI: Dr. Meena Desai) Funded by DST 2015-2019
3. Osteoprotegerin, Receptor activation of nuclear factor kappa b (RANK) and Receptor activation of nuclear factor kappa b ligand (RANKL) as biomarkers for osteoporosis (PI: Dr. Meena Desai) Funded by NIRRH 2013-2017
4. A study of lifestyle and genetic factors in tribal population from Northeast  and its association with bone health and cardiovascular disease(PI: Dr. M I Khatkhatey) Funded by DBT-NE 2014-2017
5. The identification of estrogen regulated proteins in the proteome of osteoblast and osteoclast (PI: Dr. M I Khatkhatey) Funded by DST 2016-2018