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

Viva in Vitro Diagnostics, a Spanish biomedical company specialising 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 ‘Investigation 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, the project’s principal investigator, head of the Clinical Neuroimmunology group at VHIR and a neurologist at the Catalan Multiple Sclerosis Centre (Cemcat), a centre of excellence for the care and research of multiple sclerosis. 

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

In current clinical practice, the assessment of response to treatments for multiple sclerosis relies primarily on clinical and radiological monitoring. In some cases, specialists may need up to a year to determine with sufficient accuracy whether the disease is adequately controlled or whether the treatment strategy needs to be reconsidered.
The project aims to generate scientific evidence to enable the study of new complementary tools to reduce this period of uncertainty and move towards earlier and more personalised clinical decisions.

A study using 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 utilise existing biological samples from patients with multiple sclerosis, stored and safeguarded by the VHIR, alongside samples from healthy controls.

The VHIR’s 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, a neurologist at Cemcat and the project’s principal investigator, who is a leading figure 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 predicting response to treatment 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 a much more personalised form of medicine and make therapeutic decisions before disease activity becomes apparent,” explains Dr Manuel Comabella. 

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

“This new collaboration reflects the relationship of trust we have built with Vall d’Hebron and the VHIR, and enables us to extend our research into NLRP3 to a highly complex immune-mediated disease such as multiple sclerosis. Having a clinical and scientific partner of this calibre reinforces 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 a 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 on the available samples and to lay a solid foundation for expanding the study”. 

Immunological insights for more personalised medicine

The NLRP3 inflammasome is a molecular complex of the innate immune system that plays a role in regulating the inflammatory response. Owing to its involvement in various 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 investigate whether the functional analysis of this immune pathway can provide relevant information on patients’ clinical course and their response to S1P receptor-modulating therapies. The research is not based on previous clinical results nor does it aim to replace current medical criteria; rather, it seeks 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 partnership between Viva in Vitro Diagnostics, Vall d’Hebron University Hospital and the VHIR. The three organisations have also been collaborating since 2025 on a translational validation study into sepsis, led at Vall d’Hebron by Dr Ricard Ferrer, head of the Intensive Care Unit and the Shock, Organ Dysfunction and Resuscitation (SODIR) group at the VHIR.