MicroRNAs to predict neurological outcome after cardiac arrest

Cardiac arrest (CA) is a devastating disease and represents a significant socio-economic burden, in Luxembourg as well as abroad. A large proportion of patients do not recover from CA and, from those successfully resuscitated, half suffer severe and irreversible neurological damages. Being able to predict these neurological damages will allow improving health care and reduce the financial burden of this disease. However, to date there is no method to predict neurological outcome in CA patients. This project aims to discover new methods to predict neurological outcome after CA and thus aims to fulfil an unmet medical need. Results obtained through our FNR-CORE CV-miRs project (2011-2013) suggested that small non-coding RNA molecules called microRNAs (miRNAs) may fulfil this need.
The present project is a direct follow-up of the CV-miRs project and proposes an original approach with the state-of-the-art and unbiased RNA sequencing technology applied to an international multicentre patient cohort to address the value of circulating miRNAs to predict neurological outcome after CA.