Researchers Have Developed A New Blood Test That Could Diagnose Inflammatory Illnesses In Children More Quickly And Accurately
A new blood test might completely change the way that doctors diagnose and treat inflammatory illnesses in children.
The test analyzes cell-free RNA (cfRNA) in blood plasma and could lead to faster and more accurate diagnoses.
In a new study, researchers focused on a number of inflammatory diseases that can be difficult for scientists to tell apart due to their overlapping symptoms. The illnesses included Kawasaki disease (KD), multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C), and multiple viral and bacterial infections.
The study was led by Iwijn De Vlaminck, an associate professor of biomedical engineering from Cornell University, and Conor Loy, an Ignite Fellow for New Ventures.
The research team used blood samples from 370 pediatric patients across four hospitals in the United States.
The patients had confirmed diagnoses of KD, MIS-C, viral infections, and bacterial infections, while some of the children were healthy and acted as the control group. The researchers analyzed the cfRNA profiles of the patient’s blood samples with advanced RNA sequencing techniques.
Cell-free RNA is just fragments of genetic material that circulate in the bloodstream after being released by cells all over the body.
Traditional blood tests can really only reflect the immune response, while cfRNA can provide more information about the immune system’s activity and any damage to tissues and organs.
“When you analyze RNA in plasma, what you’re looking at is RNA from dying cells, and also RNA that’s been released from cells anywhere in the body,” Loy said.
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“This gives you a huge advantage. In inflammatory conditions, there’s lots of cell death. Cells are, in some cases, exploding, and their RNA gets released into plasma. By isolating that RNA and sequencing it, we can discover biomarkers for disease and backtrack where the RNA is coming from to measure cell death.”
The research team’s analysis showed distinct cfRNA signatures for different inflammatory conditions.
They even managed to develop a machine-learning model that could distinguish between KD and MIS-C with an accuracy of 98 percent.
These two illnesses can be tough to tell apart, yet they require different treatments, so the team’s results are highly significant.
The researchers also created another model that could differentiate between KD, MIS-C, viral infections, and bacterial infections. The model had an 80 percent accuracy rate in distinguishing the four types of illness.
Furthermore, cfRNA could indicate damage to specific organs that traditional clinical tests don’t show.
This is important because MIS-C can cause swelling in the heart, lungs, brain, or other organs, while KD can lead to heart attacks and cardiac aneurysms.
The new blood test involving cfRNA profiles could be life-changing. Currently, the diagnosis process of inflammatory diseases in children often requires various blood tests, a combination of clinical symptoms, and sometimes even invasive procedures.
A single blood test that can accurately distinguish between conditions and reveal organ involvement can make diagnosis faster and bring about better outcomes for patients.
Although the results are promising, the researchers noted that more work needs to be done before the test can be used in clinical settings. The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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