(65b) Point-of-Care Sepsis Diagnostics

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction syndrome caused by a dysregulated and harmful host reaction to infection, accounting for at least 1/3 of all hospital deaths. A critical unmet need in controlling sepsis is the lack of quantitive, fast tests that produce actionable results in busy clinical settings. Here we aim to develop a new diagnostic platform for rapid, point-of-care (POC) sepsis detection. Termed IBS (integrated Biosensor for Sepsis), the approach leverages our breakthroughs: i) the newly-found pathophysiological role of cytokine interleukin-3 (IL-3) in sepsis, and ii) a hybrid magneto-electrochemical sensor for IL-3 detection. The developed diagnostic platform produces test results within 1 hour from native blood samples, and detects IL-3 at a sensitivity of <10 pg/mL; this performance is 5-times faster and 10-times more sensitive than a current gold standard enzyme-linked immusorbent assay. Using clinical samples, we show the potential of IL-3 as an early diagnostic biomarker. Compact and fast, the IBS platform can be readily integrated into clinical workflows, enabling timely diagnosis and proactive treatment of sepsis.

REFERENCE
Min, M. Nothing, B. Coble, H. Zheng, J. Park, H. Im, G. Weber, C.M. Castro, F.K. Swirski, R. Weissleder*, H. Lee*, “Integrated biosensor for rapid and point-of-care sepsis diagnosis,” ACS Nano, 12, 3378-3384 (2018). DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.7b08965 (Featured in MGH Blog and Nanowerk)