The specific objectives of CARE are to:

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• Discover and validate novel soluble biomarkers reliably able to identify treatment success of multidrug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) patients and to diagnose pulmonary tuberculosis.

• Explore mechanisms explaining susceptibility to develop extrapulmonary tuberculosis related to variants of the host gene SIGLEC1 that are also involved in response to HIV infection.

• Analyse the correlation between drug-related variants in the tuberculosis genome and corresponding in vitro drug susceptibility to develop a decision making support tool for the choice of second line therapy in case of suspected MDR-TB.

• Define epidemiology and pathways of drug-resistant HIV, including their relationship with HIV subtypes and TB coinfection, across the European Region including Russia, in order to better inform health policies and clinicians for an evidence-based introduction of integrase strand transfers inhibitors (INSTI) as part of first line antiretroviral therapy.

• Discover and validate variants in the host genome influencing susceptibility to contracting AIDS and serious non-AIDS clinical events and adverse reactions to antiretroviral medicines in HIV-mono-infected and TB and/or HCV-coinfected patients.

• Compile experience for treating HCV infection by use of direct-acting antivirals from across Europe in order to inform best practice recommendations for how to use such medication in settings with current limited access and limited budgets.

The longer-term objective of the CARE project is to implement the necessary collaborative research infrastructure allowing the expansion of activities beyond the funding frame, sustaining the partners to share technology, protocols, structured data collections and knowledge to fuel and maintain cooperation and foster future research plans beyond the duration of CARE.