Acute Rheumatic Fever Diagnosis Collaborative Network (ARC)
Over 55 million people are currently living with an acquired heart disease known as rheumatic heart disease (RHD).
RHD begins with a superficial bacterial infection, strep A, that sometimes causes an immune system overreaction. This immune system overreaction, acute rheumatic fever (ARF) damages the heart valves and ultimately leads to RHD.
One major barrier to RHD prevention globally is that there is no single diagnostic test for ARF. Instead, clinicians must use a series of clinical, laboratory, and imaging data to predict if a child has ARF. In many cases, these component tests are not available in places where RHD is most common.
Improving ARF diagnosis represents a significant opportunity to improve RHD outcomes globally. ARC brings together a team of global experts to identify biomarkers that could serve as the foundation for a new ARF diagnostic test.
Together, in 5-years ARC seeks to:
Modernize the diagnosis of ARF
Improve the global understanding of ARF pathogenesis
Establish a robust platform for future ARF research
The Leducq Foundation
The Leducq Foundation is an international grant-making organization with a mission to improve human health through international efforts to combat cardiovascular disease and stroke. By forging scientific alliances that transcend national borders, and educating young researchers who thrive in an international context, we hope to promote the development of long-term collaborative relationships and to foster innovation in cardiovascular and stroke research, in order to change the way that patients with cardiovascular and neurovascular disease are diagnosed and treated.
The Leducq Foundation recognizes that rheumatic heart disease remains a significant cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality in low- and middle-income countries and is a global leader in funding research to develop innovative solutions. The ARC Network came together in response to the 2022 Leducq RFA that called for innovation in ARF diagnostics through the discover and validation of biomarkers for ARF.
