What does a life-saving blood donation have to do with tick research?
Each year, many Australians get bitten by ticks. For most this isn’t a concern and they recover quickly. But some people go on to experience serious and long-lasting health issues. Let’s look at how Australian blood donors are helping find out exactly how and why ticks make people unwell in Australia.
There’s no confirmed Lyme disease here in Australia, yet thousands of people suffer from fatigue, arthritis, chronic pain, headaches and psychological symptoms following a tick bite. These illnesses are collectively known as ‘Debilitating Symptom Complexes Attributed to Ticks’, or DSCATT.
That’s why Lifeblood joined forces with a large collection of researchers from Murdoch University, The University of Queensland, The University of Western Australia, Monash University, Australian Rickettsial Reference Laboratory and Northern Beaches Hospital on a project funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council, to try to find ways to diagnose and treat DSCATT.
How were donors involved?
Australian blood donors played a key role in this study as the control group – that means healthy people. By matching healthy donors in terms of age, sex and residency postcode to recently tick-bitten patients, researchers can isolate biological or psychological factors that are most likely to be related to a tick bite. The 100 blood donors who agreed to help in this study simply gave an extra blood sample at their next donation and filled out a brief survey. Saving up to three lives and contributing to cutting-edge research, all on their lunch break.
What did we find out?
One part of the research was designed to investigate biological changes following tick bite that may lead to DSCATT. Researchers looked for biomarkers, called micro-RNAs. The micro-RNAs are key gene regulators, and could form part of the underlying mechanism leading to DSCATT.
Overall, routine blood samples were similar between tick-bitten patients and the control blood donors across a range of micro-RNAs. That means this study didn’t find conclusive evidence for the underlying cause of DSCATT. However, by deploying a technique called differential analysis alongside machine-learning the team identified a group of micro-RNAs that seem to become more common within the first three days of a tick bite.
What’s next?
Identifying the right micro-RNAs to look for is the first step in developing a test for tick bites. Right now, there’s no way to test if people reporting DSCATT symptoms have been bitten by a tick or not. Pending further clinical validation of this research, it might be possible in the future. If you’d like to find out more, the full study is publicly available in the journal Scientific Reports. The team are working through the rest of the data with a focus on the demographics of tick bites reported, and descriptions of the microbial and biological marker profiles of the patients.
The entire project team thanks the 100 donors who took part in the study. You know who you are! If you’d like to contribute to research in the future, just keep donating and saving lives – we’ll be in contact if you’re a match for any of our ongoing studies.
Doctor Patrick Capon
Scientific Communications Specialist
Patrick is a science communications specialist who's passionate about the role of science communication in increasing research impact. He works closely with all Lifeblood researchers to translate their research into meaningful content and enable anyone to connect with our outcomes - whether that's scientists, journalists, donors, or the wider community.Patrick holds a PhD in Chemistry, is an award-winning presenter, and has experience in medical writing and science communication for audiences ranging from school students to medical professionals.
You may also like
