Paper-Based procalcitonin and Interleukin-6 test strip with Spectrum-Based optical reader for enterovirus severity...

Area of Science:

• Infectious Diseases
• Clinical Diagnostics
• Biomarker Analysis

Background:

• Infectious diseases pose global health risks, requiring rapid diagnosis to prevent sepsis.
• Early identification of neurological complications in enterovirus infections is difficult due to non-specific symptoms.
• Point-of-care testing (POCT) offers a promising solution for rapid diagnostics, particularly low-cost lateral-flow assays.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel point-of-care diagnostic system for simultaneous measurement of Procalcitonin (PCT) and Interleukin-6 (IL-6).
• To assess the system's efficacy in differentiating severe pediatric enterovirus cases and identifying neurological complications.
• To explore the potential of this diagnostic platform in resource-limited settings for early sepsis recognition and infectious disease management.

Main Methods:

• Development of a PCT/IL-6 rapid diagnostic system combining lateral flow assay (LFA) test strips with a portable optical spectrum reader.
• Simultaneous semi-quantitative measurement of serum PCT and IL-6 within 30 minutes at the point of care.
• Validation of the system against traditional Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA) using patient serum samples.

Main Results:

• The developed system showed a strong correlation with established ELISA methods.
• The PCT/IL-6 system successfully differentiated severe pediatric enterovirus cases.
• Interleukin-6 (IL-6) demonstrated superior ability compared to Procalcitonin (PCT) in identifying patients with severe neurological complications.

Conclusions:

• The novel PCT/IL-6 rapid diagnostic platform enables timely point-of-care measurement of key biomarkers.
• This system is effective in diagnosing severe enterovirus infections and predicting neurological complications.
• The technology holds significant potential for improving sepsis recognition and infectious disease management, especially in resource-limited environments.