(88d) Unique Electrochemical Detection of Sepsis Using Triplex Biomarker Detection Panel with IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 in Blood Plasma

Sepsis is a life-threatening disease that is caused by the body’s extreme reaction to an infection which could lead to tissue damage, multiple organ failure or even death. It is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, estimated to affect more than 30 million people every year according to the world health organization. Despite scientific developments in health care technologies in the past three decades, a substantial challenge continues to persist for early rapid diagnosis of sepsis. Thorough and timely diagnosis plays a substantial role in increasing the survival chances for patients with adequate treatment, thus reducing mortality. However, current gold standard blood culture techniques require large patient sample volumes and provides delayed results (6 hours to up to 5 days). This may lead to clinical ambiguity in treatment measures, propelling the body’s immune response to spiral uncontrollably into septic shock or severe sepsis. This fails to deliver the required speed and accuracy to enable accurate diagnosis. To overcome existing challenges, we tailored a specific biosensor to screen for sepsis as a rapid point-of-care (POC) technology enabling multiplexed detection capabilities. The novelty presented in this research combines the effectiveness of specific multiplexed biomarkers for detection of sepsis with electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) technique to enable clinically efficient decision-making process. This work leverages the detection of pro and anti-inflammatory cytokine biomarkers such as interleukin 6 (IL-6), interleukin-8 (IL-8) and interleukin-10 (IL-10) in blood plasma. Researchers suggests good correlation between timing of pro and inflammatory cytokine release to degree of sepsis, associated with deleterious effects. The developed label-free, point-of-care biosensor is surface engineered with specific capture probes that utilizes EIS to measure the capacitive impedance change reflecting binding interactions between the capture probe and target biomarker enabling simultaneous triplex detection. Specificity of the POC biosensor was validated using cross-reactive studies, which displayed insignificant interference from non-specific biomarkers. The biosensor also displays stable and repeatable performance. Key advantage of the triplex biosensor is the use of undiluted blood plasma volume of less than 40 µL, providing result within 15 minutes. Additionally, the triplex biosensor technology was validated with 20 patient samples that were clinically tested positive for sepsis. This unique sensor technology would allow medical practitioners to facilitate targeted interventions for septic patients as a rapid prognostic approach, preventing complications arriving from sepsis.