Respiratory Illness Inflammation Test Could Predict Hospitalization Risk of COVID-19 Patients

LightDeck Diagnostics (Boulder, CO, USA) has received a USD 2 million contract from The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF; North Bethesda, MD, USA) to develop a rapid, quantitative, multiplexed test for C-reactive proteins (CRP), inducible-proteins 10 (IP-10 or CXCL-10), and other inflammatory markers, which are known as cytokines and chemokines. The LightDeck Analyzer’s inflammation panel is expected to help healthcare providers determine the status of a patient’s health and the severity of their condition. The results could inform triage and treatment decisions on-site and in real-time, potentially making a significant difference in patient outcomes.

Inflammation plays a critical role across all diseases, from infectious diseases like COVID-19 and other respiratory illnesses to diseases like cancer. In COVID-19, the body triggers an inflammatory response that produces proteins including CRP and IP-10 or CXCL-10, which are markedly elevated in hospitalized COVID-19 patients. Preliminary data gathered by LightDeck in conjunction with HJF suggest that panels including CRP and IP-10 biomarkers may have utility in predicting the hospitalization risk of COVID-19 patients.

The LightDeck Analyzer leverages planar waveguide technology, which can enable quantitative, highly sensitive and specific tests for dozens of biomarkers on a single cartridge. The analyzer is compact, lightweight, and has a simple workflow so that healthcare providers could easily implement it in labs, hospitals, clinics, or at the point-of-care. The funding through HJF will support a study using LightDeck’s inflammation panel and an evaluation of clinical, regulatory, and commercial requirements. LightDeck will develop plans to bring the tests to market via FDA’s standard in vitro diagnostics regulatory pathways.

“During pandemics or biothreat events, when resources like nursing staff, ICU beds, and ventilators are limited, triaging patients by determining the risk of a patient needing hospitalization and allowing caregivers to properly allocate healthcare resources is of the utmost importance,” remarked Dr. Danielle Clark of HJF. “We believe the LightDeck analyzer capabilities to measure a panel of inflammation markers in minutes should allow improved patient care promptly upon arrival to the emergency room or clinic.”

“Multiplex tests for inflammation, optimized for each condition, are an exciting opportunity in diagnostics and prognosis,” said Nick Traggis, CEO of LightDeck Diagnostics. “With this project, we aim to validate the effectiveness of our inflammation panel for COVID-19, which is the first step towards delivering a larger triage panel for respiratory failure caused by a variety of conditions. We’re honored to continue to be a trusted source for fast, high-quality, multiplexed diagnostic solutions.”

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