COVID-19 Has Crystallized the Need for Effective Diagnostics at the Point-of-Need
COVID-19 Has Crystallized the Need for Effective Diagnostics at the Point-of-Need
COVID-19 Has Crystallized the Need for Effective Diagnostics at the Point-of-Need
COVID-19 Has Crystallized the Need for Effective Diagnostics at the Point-of-Need
COVID-19 Has Crystallized the Need for Effective Diagnostics at the Point-of-Need
COVID-19 Infection Risk Stratification
Cytokine Profiling to Anticipate Disease Severity
Overview
Preliminary data from patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 has shown the significant rise of 14 cytokines upon the development of the COVID-19 disease. Moreover, a continuous high level of some cytokines referred to as a "Cytokine Storm" has been shown to lead to Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), resulting in a high mortality rate. These findings suggest that an appropriate cytokine profile can provide valuable insight in assessing the resilience of individuals' immune systems to infection by the virus and inform doctors' decision-making in treating different patients.
On a macro-level, accurately determining the extent of severe cases in a given time could be immensely helpful in managing the load on healthcare systems. Furthermore, we have seen differences between disease severities in different populations globally. Being able to predict the susceptibility of various groups to severe infection could be used to optimize resource allocation by local and federal governments and help save lives.
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Multiplexed blood testing is crucial for predicting the severity of a patient's illness. Beyond comorbidity and age playing a role, an accurate risk index will depend on measuring the levels of a combination of immune-system biomarkers (i.e., cytokines). Q-SENS has shown excellent results in testing several cytokines such IL-6 and TNF-α, and can serve as a tool for rapid multiplex profiling a patients' host response.
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Doctors need to know. Patients deserve to know. We look forward to working towards this important mission and welcome opportunities to collaborate with experts in the fields of virology, immunology, and host response.