Immune Response Tests Enable Rapid Antibiotic Decisions
By LabMedica International staff writers Posted on 31 Jan 2018 |
Image: The diagnostic accuracy of the HostDx Sepsis assay compared to other methods (Photo courtesy of Inflammatix).
A novel test uses quantitative multiplex gene expression to analyze a patient's immune system, or the host response, rather than looking for the presence of a pathogen that indicates whether there is an infection in the blood.
The assays run on a molecular, multiplex platform, read patterns of gene expression from white blood cells as an indicator of the immune system's response to infection. The multigene sepsis diagnostic panel would be able to tell from a blood sample whether a hospitalized patient has a bacterial, viral, or no infection so that physicians would be able to administer more appropriate treatments earlier.
The HostDx Sepsis test (Inflammatix, Burlingame, CA, USA) has been validated in 20 cohorts of 1,057 patients. It has also demonstrated its performance in five cohorts of 189 patients diagnosed with sepsis at the time of hospital admission and four cohorts of 282 patients with hospital-acquired sepsis. In developing its tests, Inflammatix analyzes microarray and RNA-sequencing data that reside in public and private databases and that are derived from several patient cohorts around the world. Its data science team observes patterns or fingerprints of gene expression across different cohorts.
For its fever assay, the firm has reported 94% sensitivity and 76% specificity for bacterial infection. For its sepsis assay, it has reported 94% sensitivity for bacterial infection, 91% specificity for viral infection, and 95% sensitivity for 30-day mortality related to sepsis. While diagnosing infections, clinicians frequently use blood culture testing to find pathogens, which can take up to 72 hours to get a positive test result, compared to one hour with HostDx.
Timothy E. Sweeney, MD, CEO and founder of Inflammatix, said, “Inflammatix has developed a method that is broadly applicable and gives us the ability to not only discover the best gene sets for specific applications, but also the best algorithms that sit on top of those gene sets to make sure that the diagnostic tools are accurate. The firm has prospectively validated eight sets of genes for different clinical applications. By reading the immune response, you can tell whether a bacterial or viral infection is causing a patient's symptoms, and fundamentally that's what a physician needs to know up front.”
Related Links:
Inflammatix
The assays run on a molecular, multiplex platform, read patterns of gene expression from white blood cells as an indicator of the immune system's response to infection. The multigene sepsis diagnostic panel would be able to tell from a blood sample whether a hospitalized patient has a bacterial, viral, or no infection so that physicians would be able to administer more appropriate treatments earlier.
The HostDx Sepsis test (Inflammatix, Burlingame, CA, USA) has been validated in 20 cohorts of 1,057 patients. It has also demonstrated its performance in five cohorts of 189 patients diagnosed with sepsis at the time of hospital admission and four cohorts of 282 patients with hospital-acquired sepsis. In developing its tests, Inflammatix analyzes microarray and RNA-sequencing data that reside in public and private databases and that are derived from several patient cohorts around the world. Its data science team observes patterns or fingerprints of gene expression across different cohorts.
For its fever assay, the firm has reported 94% sensitivity and 76% specificity for bacterial infection. For its sepsis assay, it has reported 94% sensitivity for bacterial infection, 91% specificity for viral infection, and 95% sensitivity for 30-day mortality related to sepsis. While diagnosing infections, clinicians frequently use blood culture testing to find pathogens, which can take up to 72 hours to get a positive test result, compared to one hour with HostDx.
Timothy E. Sweeney, MD, CEO and founder of Inflammatix, said, “Inflammatix has developed a method that is broadly applicable and gives us the ability to not only discover the best gene sets for specific applications, but also the best algorithms that sit on top of those gene sets to make sure that the diagnostic tools are accurate. The firm has prospectively validated eight sets of genes for different clinical applications. By reading the immune response, you can tell whether a bacterial or viral infection is causing a patient's symptoms, and fundamentally that's what a physician needs to know up front.”
Related Links:
Inflammatix
Latest Immunology News
- Diagnostic Blood Test for Cellular Rejection after Organ Transplant Could Replace Surgical Biopsies
- AI Tool Precisely Matches Cancer Drugs to Patients Using Information from Each Tumor Cell
- Genetic Testing Combined With Personalized Drug Screening On Tumor Samples to Revolutionize Cancer Treatment
- Testing Method Could Help More Patients Receive Right Cancer Treatment
- Groundbreaking Test Monitors Radiation Therapy Toxicity in Cancer Patients
- State-Of-The Art Techniques to Investigate Immune Response in Deadly Strep A Infections
- Novel Immunoassays Enable Early Diagnosis of Antiphospholipid Syndrome
- New Test Could Predict Immunotherapy Success for Broader Range Of Cancers
- Simple Blood Protein Tests Predict CAR T Outcomes for Lymphoma Patients
- Cell Sorter Chip Technology to Pave Way for Immune Profiling at POC
- Chip Monitors Cancer Cells in Blood Samples to Assess Treatment Effectiveness
- Automated Immunohematology Approaches Can Resolve Transplant Incompatibility
- AI Leverages Tumor Genetics to Predict Patient Response to Chemotherapy
- World’s First Portable, Non-Invasive WBC Monitoring Device to Eliminate Need for Blood Draw
- Predictive T-Cell Test Detects Immune Response to Viruses Even Before Antibodies Form
- Single Blood Draw to Detect Immune Cells Present Months before Flu Infection Can Predict Symptoms