Technology Development Initiative – Paper of the Month – January 2023

Image copyright – MDPI.

Rapid Quantum Magnetic IL-6 Point-of-Care Assay in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19

Published in Diagnostics.

Authors

Johnny Atallah, Dakota Archambault, Jeffrey D Randall, Adam Shepro, Lauren E Styskal, David R Glenn, Colin B Connolly, Katelin Katsis, Kathleen Gallagher, Musie Ghebremichael, Michael K Mansour

Paper presented by Dr. Reinis Svarcbahs and selected by the NIDA TDI Paper of the Month Committee

Background and Technological Advancement

Detection of low levels of molecular targets (e.g. proteins) in biological samples is often limited by the signal-to-noise ratio. Additionally, long assay times are required for ultrasensitive detection methods that are not always practical for clinical use. Quantum diamond microscope system uses synthetic diamond chips with quantum defects also called nitrogen vacancy (NV) centers. NV centers can be considered pseudo atoms with electronic states that are sensitive to electric and magnetic fields and temperature and strain gradients. When NV centers are excited with green light, red fluorescence emitted from the NV centers detect local magnetic field. Fluorescence is measured over a millimeter-scale field of view providing millions of independent magnetic measurements to be made simultaneously. A target, for example IL-6, is detected by immunocomplexes that are bound to pairs of magnetically distinct beads that each have antibody recognizing different epitope of same antigen.  When an external magnetic field is applied, the complexed beads are detected by NV centers. In practice, these spatially overlapped magnetic signals are considered a true signal while unbound beads appear as a non-coincident signal. This method does not require removal of unbound beads or extensive wash steps thus providing relatively fast and sensitive assay for measuring protein targets in pre-clinical and clinical applications. Overall, the quantum diamond microscope system is a sensitive method to detect target proteins in a short time compared to similar immunocomplex-based detection methods (e.g. traditional ELISAs). In theory, this method could be optimized for DNA and RNA targets.

@article{pmid35626318,

title = {Rapid Quantum Magnetic IL-6 Point-of-Care Assay in Patients Hospitalized with COVID-19},

author = {Johnny Atallah and Dakota Archambault and Jeffrey D Randall and Adam Shepro and Lauren E Styskal and David R Glenn and Colin B Connolly and Katelin Katsis and Kathleen Gallagher and Musie Ghebremichael and Michael K Mansour},

url = {https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35626318/},

doi = {10.3390/diagnostics12051164},

issn = {2075-4418},

year  = {2022},

date = {2022-05-01},

urldate = {2022-05-01},

journal = {Diagnostics (Basel)},

volume = {12},

number = {5},

abstract = {Interleukin-6 (IL-6) has been linked to several life-threatening disease processes. Developing a point-of-care testing platform for the immediate and accurate detection of IL-6 concentrations could present a valuable tool for improving clinical management in patients with IL-6-mediated diseases. Drawing on an available biobank of samples from 35 patients hospitalized with COVID-19, a novel quantum-magnetic sensing platform is used to determine plasma IL-6 concentrations. A strong correlation was observed between IL-6 levels measured by QDTI10x and the Luminex assay (r = 0.70, -value < 0.001) and between QDTI80x and Luminex (r = 0.82, -value < 0.001). To validate the non-inferiority of QDTI to Luminex in terms of the accuracy of IL-6 measurement, two clinical parameters-the need for intensive care unit admission and the need for mechanical intubation-were chosen. IL-6 concentrations measured by the two assays were compared with respect to these clinical outcomes. Results demonstrated a comparative predictive performance between the two assays with a significant correlation coefficient. Conclusion: In short, the QDTI assay holds promise for implementation as a potential tool for rapid clinical decision in patients with IL-6-mediated diseases. It could also reduce healthcare costs and enable the development of future various biomolecule point-of-care tests for different clinical scenarios.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {article}

}