Leukocyte ImmunoTest™: point-of-care test for monitoring chemotherapy-induced neutropenia

制药公司正在继续开发新的和改进的抗癌药物和药物，越来越多的癌症患者从这些所谓的化疗药物中受益。然而，一个关键的挑战是出现不受欢迎的药物副作用的风险，这些副作用被称为药物不良反应(ADR)。一种常见的ADR也相当严重地影响免疫系统的白细胞，降低身体抵御感染的有效性(一种被称为“中性粒细胞减少症”的情况)。患有严重中性粒细胞减少症的患者更容易受到细菌感染，如果没有及时的医疗救治，这种情况可能会危及生命。为了满足这一未得到满足的临床需求，牛津大学MediStress(OMS)最近开发了白细胞免疫测试(LIT(Tm))，用于快速评估中性粒细胞(一种白细胞，免疫系统的一个关键方面)的功能。这种血液测试快速(只需10分钟)、便携，并使用手持护理点(POC)电子设备；它使用微小的血液针刺，并显示您的免疫系统工作得有多好。这会向医生显示你的身体对你的药物有多好的反应；它可以在任何时候迅速地显示这一点。重要的是，该设备最终可以为家庭使用而开发(很像众所周知的家庭糖尿病测试)。最终，我们还将拥有一款支持智能手机的应用程序，可以将结果直接传达给医生(但这不是这个项目的一部分)。重要的是，为了使它适合家庭使用，该设备的某些方面需要改进。在这个项目中，Oxford MediStress将带领一个小团队通过开发一种新的试剂盒来改进设备，这种试剂盒已经预装了必要的化学物质，以便更容易、更快地使用。作为一个附带好处，我们还将了解我们的测试是否以及如何用于监测其他疾病的情况，以及NHS的医生可能如何使用这项技术来帮助患者(通过拯救生命)和医疗服务(通过降低成本和更有效地提供优质的医疗保健)。

"Drug companies are continuing to develop new and improved drugs and medications in the fight against cancer, and more cancer patients are benefiting from these so-called ""chemotherapy"" drugs. However, a key challenge is the risk of unwanted drug side effects which are called adverse drug responses (ADRs). A common ADR that is also quite severe affects the white blood cells of the immune system, reducing the effectiveness of the body to ward off infection (a condition known as ""neutropenia""). Patients with severe neutropenia are more susceptible to bacterial infection and, without prompt medical attention, the condition may become life-threatening.To address this unmet clinical need, Oxford MediStress (OMS) has recently developed the Leukocyte ImmunoTest(tm) (LIT(tm)) for rapidly assessing the function of neutrophils (a type of white blood cell and a key aspect of the immune system). This blood test is rapid (taking only ten minutes), portable, and uses a hand-held point-of-care (POC) electronic device; it uses a tiny pinprick of blood and shows how well your immune system is working. This shows the doctor how well your body is responding to you medication; it shows this quickly and at any point in time. Importantly, the device can eventually be developed for use at home (much like the well-known home diabetes test). Eventually, we will also have a smartphone-enabled app to communicate the results directly to the doctor (but that is not part of this project).Importantly, in order to make it suitable for home-use, some aspects of the device need to be improved. In this project, Oxford MediStress will lead a small team to improve the device by developing a new reagent cartridge that has the necessary chemicals already pre-loaded so that it is easier and quicker to use.As a side benefit, we will also learn whether and how our test can be used to monitor other disease conditions and how doctors in the NHS would likely use this technology to help both the patients (by saving lives) and the healthcare service (by reducing cost and making the provision of excellent healthcare more efficient)."