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Plasma-induced nanoparticle aggregation for stratifying COVID-19 patients according to disease severity
Giulia Santopolo1,2, Antonio Clemente1, Marta González-Freire3
1Multidisciplinary Sepsis Group, Health Research Institute of the Balearic Islands (IdISBa), 07120 Palma, Spain.
Insights
A simple nanoparticle aggregation test can differentiate COVID-19 patients needing intensive care from those discharged. This rapid test uses gold nanoparticles to assess disease severity, aiding in resource allocation and safe care de-escalation.
Area of Science:
- Nanotechnology
- Biomarker Discovery
- Infectious Disease Diagnostics
Background:
- Stratifying COVID-19 patients by severity is challenging, often requiring multiple biomarker tests.
- Rapid assessment of disease severity is crucial for timely clinical decisions and resource management.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop a rapid, single-test method for stratifying COVID-19 patients based on disease severity.
- To evaluate a nanoparticle aggregation assay for distinguishing intensive care unit (ICU) patients from those discharged.
Main Methods:
- A nanoparticle aggregation assay using gold nanoparticles and platelet-free plasma samples.
- Colorimetric evaluation of nanoparticle aggregation by measuring pixel intensity from photographs.
- Correlation analysis with established COVID-19 prognostic and inflammation biomarkers.
Main Results:
- The nanoparticle aggregation test successfully distinguished between ICU and discharged COVID-19 patients.
- Increased nanoparticle aggregation was observed in samples from ICU patients.
- Test results showed high correlation with common COVID-19 severity biomarkers.
Conclusions:
- A nanoparticle aggregation assay offers a promising, rapid method for assessing COVID-19 patient severity.
- This assay could facilitate safe care de-escalation and optimize hospital resource utilization.
- Further development of nanoparticle-based assays may improve infectious disease diagnostics.
Abstract:
Stratifying patients according to disease severity has been a major hurdle during the COVID-19 pandemic. This usually requires evaluating the levels of several biomarkers, which may be cumbersome when rapid decisions are required. In this manuscript we show that a single nanoparticle aggregation test can be used to distinguish patients that require intensive care from those that have already been discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU). It consists of diluting a platelet-free plasma sample and then adding gold nanoparticles. The nanoparticles aggregate to a larger extent when the samples are obtained from a patient in the ICU. This changes the color of the colloidal suspension, which can be evaluated by measuring the pixel intensity of a photograph. Although the exact factor or combination of factors behind the different aggregation behavior is unknown, control experiments demonstrate that the presence of proteins in the samples is crucial for the test to work. Principal component analysis demonstrates that the test result is highly correlated to biomarkers of prognosis and inflammation that are commonly used to evaluate the severity of COVID-19 patients. The results shown here pave the way to develop nanoparticle aggregation assays that classify COVID-19 patients according to disease severity, which could be useful to de-escalate care safely and make a better use of hospital resources.
