Active Infection & Immunity Digestion, Kidneys & Other Organs

GAS Immuno-T: Development of a standardised immunity test to Group A Streptococcus

Funder InnovateUK (part of UKRI)
Recipient organisation Immunoserv LTD
Funding £345K
Period Apr 2025 — Apr 2028

In plain English

AI plain-English summary

A simple blood test could soon tell doctors whether a person’s immune T cells are primed to fight Group A Streptococcus, a bacterium that causes more than 600 million infections each year. Currently, no standardised test exists to measure T-cell responses to Strep A. This gap has slowed vaccine development, because researchers cannot easily assess whether a candidate vaccine triggers the right cellular immunity. Without such a test, efforts to prevent serious Strep A complications—such as rheumatic heart disease and kidney damage—remain hampered. ImmunoServ is adapting a T-cell test platform it validated during the COVID-19 pandemic. The new ‘Strep A Immuno-T test’ would provide a simple, standardised way to measure immunity, replacing the complex and expensive methods used in research labs today. If successful, the test would give vaccine manufacturers and public health authorities the first clinically validated tool to evaluate Strep A vaccines in human trials. This is applied diagnostic development, not fundamental science. The project’s direct goal is a commercial product. But by enabling faster, more reliable vaccine testing, it could ultimately reduce the global burden of a bacterium that causes everything from sore throats to life-threatening toxic shock syndrome.

View original technical description
Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) is a major global health concern, causing over 600 million new infections each year. This bacterium can lead to a wide range of illnesses, from common conditions like sore throat and impetigo to more serious diseases like necrotising fasciitis and toxic shock syndrome. Repeated infections with Strep A can also result in long-term complications such as rheumatic heart disease and kidney problems. T cells, a key part of the immune system, play a crucial role in fighting off infections like Strep A. However, there is currently no simple blood test to measure how well a person's T cells respond to Strep A, which is a major hurdle in developing effective vaccines. Traditionally, measuring T cell responses has been complicated and expensive. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ImmunoServ developed a breakthrough T cell immunity test, the COVID-19 Immuno-T test, which made testing more accessible and standardised. This same platform is now being adapted to create a similar test for Strep A, called the 'Strep A Immuno-T test'. This new test will measure how well T cells respond to Strep A, helping researchers better understand immunity to the bacterium and speeding up vaccine development. ImmunoServ has already gathered promising data from initial studies and is now working to further refine the test. The ultimate goal of this project is to create the world's first clinically validated T cell blood test for Strep A immunity for use by vaccine manufacturers and public health authorities.

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Related Research

Grants with similar aims, by meaning.

Rising to the Strep A human challenge: Investigating protection against experimental human infection to predict vaccine efficacy.
Investigating the immune response to Group A Streptococcus
Development and validation of an easily accessible, whole-blood test for the assessment of natural and vaccine-induced T-cell responses to SARS-CoV-2
Development and validation of a simple cellular immunity test (SCIT) for SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19)
Specificity enhancing reagent for robust SARS-CoV-2 serology testing

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