One of the things we were able to do was systematically evaluate those biomarkers that you mentioned, because they're clinically available and widely used. In our experience, those are not the biomarkers that will aid in diagnosis, so we have to dig a little deeper.
Some of the candidates that we are investigating go into the realm of autoantibodies, but on broad scale levels. We're doing this through collaborations at the international level. There are also elements that have proteomic markers, as well as immunological signatures.
One of the specialties of my research group is to look at the microbiota and some of the metabolites. The microbiota is the community of bacteria that lives in any given area of the body, but we're particularly interested in the community that lives in the the guts. This has a profound effect on interactions with the immune system, inflammation and immune dysregulation.
The microbiota is another example of a potential biomarker or elements of what the microbiota produces, such as its metabolites.