Breaking Research That Could Advance COVID-19 Treatment and Testing Announced at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting
ATLANTA, Sept. 29, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- A groundbreaking study shows that a new rapid test identifies COVID-19 patients who will deteriorate with greater accuracy than existing tests, thus helping patients to get life-saving treatment. Findings on this method, as well as a novel study on the performance of coronavirus tests in children, were presented today at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo.
Improving Prediction of COVID-19 Severity
In about a third of all COVID-19 cases, there is still uncertainty about whether or not a patient will develop the severe form of the illness. As a result, about 8% of patients aren't admitted to the hospital when they need to be, while another 20% of patients are admitted unnecessarily.
In an effort to solve this problem, a team of researchers from MeMed led by Niv Mastboim, MD, and Eran Eden, PhD, has developed a test that predicts COVID-19 outcomes with high accuracy. In 15 minutes, the test measures blood levels of TRAIL and IP-10, two proteins that the immune system produces in response to viral infections, and CRP, a general marker of infection severity. The test then uses these values to calculate a COVID-19 Severity score on a scale of 0-100, with 100 indicating the highest likelihood of severe outcome.
To develop this test, Mastboim and Eden's team first used a rapid point-of-care instrument that MeMed previously built to measure TRAIL, IP-10, and CRP in a group of 518 COVID-19 patients, 113 of whom had a severe outcome. The researchers analyzed the data from this group with a machine learning algorithm in order to create the model that serves as the basis for the COVID-19 Severity score. Through statistical analysis, the researchers then determined that the COVID-19 Severity score has an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.86. This means that it outperforms other COVID-19 severity stratification tests in terms of accuracy, including the commonly used biomarker IL-6, which only has an AUC of 0.77.
"There are three elements that are novel about this test," said Eden. "First, we're using the body's immune response to tell us what's going on with the patient. Second, instead of using just one biomarker, we're combining three complementary markers to get a more holistic picture. And third, we're using a novel platform that is able to measure these specific proteins from blood within 15 minutes, making this test clinically applicable to the workflow in today's emergency departments."
Ensuring That Coronavirus Tests Are Accurate in Children
Another lesser-known challenge with COVID-19 care is the fact that the majority of FDA-authorized coronavirus tests were validated primarily using data from adults, meaning that these tests might not be as accurate in pediatric patients.
A team of researchers led by Mary Kathryn Bohn, a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto, therefore set out to investigate the accuracy of coronavirus antigen and antibody tests in a pediatric population. The researchers tested 140 asymptomatic children and adolescents (ages 5 to 18) with a coronavirus antigen test and an antibody test. From this, they found that the tests' performance in pediatric individuals was on par with the tests' performance in adults. All of the antigen test results were negative, which was in keeping with the fact that all study participants were asymptomatic. Furthermore, all of the study participants (3%) who had positive antibody test results had also previously tested positive for the coronavirus in the past.
"A lot of the literature focuses on adults right now, and our study has been one of the few to go into the community and see the performance of these tests in asymptomatic school children and adolescents," said Bohn. "These types of studies will be really important, especially as the school year starts."
Abstract Information
AACC Annual Scientific Meeting registration is free for members of the media. Reporters can register online here: https://www.xpressreg.net/register/aacc0921/media/landing.asp
Both sessions will be presented during:
Scientific Poster Session
Wednesday, September 29
9:30 a.m. - 5 p.m. (presenting author in attendance from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.)
Poster Hall, Exhibit Hall C
Georgia World Congress Center
Atlanta
About the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo
The AACC Annual Scientific Meeting offers 5 days packed with opportunities to learn about exciting science from September 26-30. Plenary sessions explore COVID-19 vaccines and virus evolution, research lessons learned from the pandemic, artificial intelligence in the clinic, miniaturization of diagnostic platforms, and improvements to treatments for cystic fibrosis.
At the AACC Clinical Lab Expo, more than 400 exhibitors will fill the show floor of the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta with displays of the latest diagnostic technology, including but not limited to COVID-19 testing, artificial intelligence, mobile health, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, point-of-care, and automation.
About AACC
Dedicated to achieving better health through laboratory medicine, AACC brings together more than 50,000 clinical laboratory professionals, physicians, research scientists, and business leaders from around the world focused on clinical chemistry, molecular diagnostics, mass spectrometry, translational medicine, lab management, and other areas of progressing laboratory science. Since 1948, AACC has worked to advance the common interests of the field, providing programs that advance scientific collaboration, knowledge, expertise, and innovation. For more information, visit www.aacc.org.
Christine DeLong
AACC
Senior Manager, Communications & PR
(p) 202.835.8722
[email protected]
Molly Polen
AACC
Senior Director, Communications & PR
(p) 202.420.7612
(c) 703.598.0472
[email protected]
SOURCE AACC
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