Media release
From: Proteomics International Laboratories Limited (ASX:PIQ)New test to avoid muscle injury for marathon runners to race horses
Easy-to-use fingerprick blood test detects muscle damage and tracks recovery in elite athletes.
Groundbreaking results reveal OxiDx test, measuring oxidative stress levels to detect muscle damage in elite athletes, identified muscle damage and assessed recovery time in elite marathon runners, published in Physiological Reports.
FAST FACTS
- In professional sports, muscle damage is the most common cause of injury, causing up to 55% of all injuries
- In horse racing, 85% of thoroughbreds suffer at least one injury during their first 2-3 years of racing
- There is no currently available simple, accurate measure for muscle damage
- In 2023, $1.2 billion was spent on treating potentially avoidable sports injuries in Australia
Knowing when an athlete can safely return to training after intense exercise typically relies on coaches and athletes making best guess estimates but a new easy-to-use fingerprint blood test, developed by Australian researchers, first identifies lurking muscle damage and then tracks how long recovery is taking.
Proteomics International Managing Director Dr Richard Lipscombe said, “the OxiDx test could literally be a game changer for sports medicine.”
“With this easy-to-use test that can detect unseen muscle damage, athletes can adjust their training regime to avoid more serious injury.”
“Athletes recover at different rates so the rule of thumb approach of resting for a few days can often result in athletes returning to training too quickly, getting injured again and prolonging their recovery time. The OxiDx test has implications for all high-performance athletes, from footballers to horse racing”, he said.
The world-first, patented OxiDx technology measures levels of muscle damage using a simple finger-prick blood sample to detect protein biomarkers in the blood. There is no equivalent test on the market.
“There has been a significant gap in the field of sports science focusing on the lack of sensitive biomarkers for exercise-induced muscle damage”, Dr Lipscombe said.
Marathon running causes extensive muscle damage, known as exercise-induced muscle damage (EIMD), which can impair performance and increase injury risk if recovery is incomplete.
“Levels of oxidative stress peaks 48 hours post-marathon and remains elevated for up to five days, aligning with traditional muscle damage indicators like reduced muscle force, increased soreness, and elevated creatine kinase. However, for some athletes recovery can take longer.”
“This easy-to-use test provides athletes accurate measures so they can confidently make decisions about when to return to training”, he said.
Proteomics International aims to launch the new test in Australia through its OxiDx subsidiary in the first half of 2025.
About OxiDx
OxiDx Pty Ltd (Perth, Western Australia) is a 66 per cent owned subsidiary of Proteomics International. OxiDx is commercialising technology for measuring oxidative stress developed in collaboration with The University of Western Australia. OxiDx uses next generation diagnostics technology, moving beyond measuring protein concentrations to detect subtle changes in protein structures known as post-translational modifications or ‘decorations’ that reside on the surface of a protein. The patented OxiDx platform technology measures systemic oxidative stress in a fingerpick blood sample by using a sensitive ratio-metric method to detect protein biomarkers in the blood. Samples can be collected in the home, clinic or on the field with high specificity to provide a comprehensive solution for monitoring oxidative stress levels.
Oxidative stress is implicated in over 70 health conditions[1] with a person’s levels often reflective of health and fitness. The ability to measure oxidative stress has broad application across multiple markets, from an athletic monitoring tool for competition preparedness and injury reduction in professional sports and horse racing industries, to a monitoring tool for health and wellbeing, including in primary industries such as stock production. It can also serve as a complementary diagnostic (CDx) test for assessing treatment efficacy and precision medicine by enabling personalised dosing in clinical trials.
About Proteomics International Laboratories (PILL) (www.proteomicsinternational.com)
Proteomics International (Perth, Western Australia) is a wholly owned subsidiary and trading name of PILL (ASX: PIQ), a medical technology company at the forefront of predictive diagnostics and bio-analytical services. The Company specialises in the area of proteomics – the industrial scale study of the structure and function of proteins. Proteomics International's mission is to improve the quality of lives by the creation and application of innovative tools that enable the improved treatment of disease.
