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Monitoring T-cell function in septic shock: one-year experience with a fully automated assay.
Thomas Lafon1,2, Morgane Gossez1,3, Annabelle Schild1
1Immunology Laboratory, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Hôpital E. Herriot, Lyon, France.
Critical Care (London, England)
|June 10, 2026
Summary
A new automated assay accurately measures T cell function in septic shock patients, identifying those at high risk for clinical deterioration. This tool could aid personalized immunotherapy strategies by monitoring immune status in critical care settings.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Critical Care Medicine
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Sepsis necessitates personalized immunotherapy due to a lack of clear immune status indicators.
- Functional immune testing is the gold standard but faces clinical implementation challenges.
- Automated protocols are needed to assess T cell functionality in septic shock.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate a fully automated protocol for assessing T cell functionality in septic shock patients.
- To correlate immune function markers with clinical outcomes.
- To identify potential biomarkers for immune status monitoring in sepsis.
Main Methods:
- Prospective, observational, single-center cohort study of 66 septic shock patients.
- Assessed T lymphocyte functionality using an automated interferon-γ release assay (IGRA) with mitogen stimulation.
- Monitored immunological parameters including T cell subpopulations and monocyte HLA-DR (mHLA-DR) over the first week post-ICU admission.
Main Results:
- Significantly reduced IFN-γ release capacity observed, correlating with altered cellular immunological parameters.
- A severe immunological phenotype, characterized by reduced IFN-γ release and low mHLA-DR by week one, predicted increased clinical deterioration risk.
- The assay demonstrated potential for rapid assessment of immune status in septic shock.
Conclusions:
- The fully automated IGRA assay shows promise for monitoring immune functional alterations in clinical practice.
- Combining reduced IFN-γ release with low mHLA-DR may identify high-risk septic shock patients.
- Further validation in larger cohorts is required to confirm clinical relevance and utility for personalized immunotherapy.