A novel multiplex cytokine respiratory panel to change the dynamics of COVID-19 testing

有许多炎症标志物与各种疾病有关。一组这样的标志物是细胞因子，它们是由体内不同细胞释放的小蛋白质。这些细胞因子作为信使，帮助协调身体对抗感染和炎症。细胞因子通常在动脉粥样硬化和癌症等疾病患者的血液中进行检测。最近，在感染COVID-19病毒的患者中检测到了一些细胞因子，如白细胞介素-6，并发现在那些症状更严重的患者中显着增加，不幸的是，死亡率增加。这是由于“细胞因子风暴”，当人的免疫系统进入瘫痪并失去控制时。这导致非常高水平的细胞因子被释放，这反过来又导致过度炎症，甚至多器官损伤。细胞因子风暴可能解释了为什么有些人对冠状病毒有严重反应，而另一些人最终只有轻微的反应。对于肺部疾病，如COVID-19，测量痰液中的细胞因子水平更有意义，因为这将更能代表肺部本身发生的情况。因此，该项目的目的是调整现有的三种关键细胞因子的血液检测，包括白细胞介素-6，从而可以在痰样品中安全有效地测量它们。该项目将利用ProAxsis在开发基于痰液的检测方面的广泛专业知识，创建一种新的组合检测，该检测能够在少量痰液中测量三种关键细胞因子-白细胞介素-6，白细胞介素-8和肿瘤坏死因子-α的水平。这将有助于医疗保健专业人员确定哪些感染COVID-19病毒的患者可能患有最严重的症状。从长远来看，它还将使他们能够测试几种正在开发的用于治疗COVID-19的新药的有效性。ProAxsis将在六个月内使用其两名最有经验的科学家创建这种新的基于肿瘤的组合测试，并迅速将其扩展到世界各地的其他实验室。该公司认为，这将为医疗保健专业人员提供一个重要的新工具，以对抗COVID-19大流行。自该项目开始以来，科学家们已经证实了白细胞介素-6等细胞因子作为生物标志物的重要性，可以预测哪些人感染COVID-19病毒将遭受最严重的症状。然而，他们最近也表明，测量另一种细胞因子白细胞介素-10与白细胞介素-6的组合水平，比仅考虑白细胞介素-6本身提供了更好的预测。“影响扩展”资金将使ProAxsis的科学家能够利用额外的三个月时间将白细胞介素-10添加到新的基于肿瘤的组合测试中，从而提高其支持医疗保健专业人员识别和治疗感染COVID-19病毒的能力。

There are a number of markers of inflammation which have been associated with various diseases. One group of such markers is the cytokines which are small proteins released by different cells in the body. These cytokines work as messengers and help co-ordinate the body's fight against infection and inflammation. Cytokines are often measured in the blood of patients with illnesses such as atherosclerosis and cancer.Very recently, a number of cytokines, such as interleukin-6, have been measured in patients infected with the COVID-19 virus and have been found to be significantly increased in those who have suffered worse symptoms and unfortunately, increased death rates. This is due to a 'cytokine storm' when the person's immune system goes into overdrive and becomes out of control. This leads to very high levels of cytokines being released which in turn causes excessive inflammation and even multiple organ damage. Cytokine storms may explain why some people have severe reactions to coronaviruses whilst others end up with only mild symptoms.For lung diseases such as COVID-19, it makes more sense to measure cytokine levels in sputum, as this will be more representative of what is occurring in the lungs themselves.Therefore, the aim of this project is to adapt the existing blood-based tests for three of the key cytokines, including interleukin-6, so that they can be safely and effectively measured in sputum samples. The project will use the extensive expertise of ProAxsis in the development of sputum-based tests to create a new combination test, which enables the level of three key cytokines - Interleukin-6, Interleukin-8 and Tumour Necrosis Factor-alpha - to be measured in a small quantity of sputum. This will help healthcare professionals identify which patients infected with the COVID-19 virus are likely to suffer with the most severe symptoms. In the longer-term, it will also allow them to test the effectiveness of several of the new drugs being developed for the treatment of COVID-19\.ProAxsis will use two of its most experienced scientists to create this new sputum-based combination test within six months, and quickly move to expand its availability to other laboratories throughout the World. The company believes that this will provide a significant new tool for healthcare professionals in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.Since the project began, scientists have confirmed how important cytokines such as Interleukin-6 can be as biomarkers for predicting which people who catch the COVID-19 virus will suffer from the worst symptoms. However, they have also very recently shown that measuring the levels of another cytokine, Interleukin-10, in combination with Interleukin-6, provides a better prediction than just considering Interleukin-6 on its own. The Extension for Impact funding will enable the scientists at ProAxsis to use the extra three months to add Interleukin-10 in to the new sputum-based combination test, thereby improving its ability to support healthcare professionals to identify and treat people infected with the COVID-19 virus.