A new study showed that a genetic signature in newborns predicts neonatal sepsis before symptoms begin to develop.
Collaborating with the MRC Unit The Gambia, UBC, and SFU researchers hope the study can help healthcare workers diagnose babies earlier, including in lower- and middle-income countries (LMICs), where neonatal sepsis is one where they are concerned. It is published in biomedicine.
Treating infants promptly is ideal, and hopefully, by recognizing it early on, we can treat them before these harms occur.'” Lowest in Canada at about one in 200 live births, but higher in premature babies.
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In a large study in The Gambia, researchers took blood samples from 720 infants at birth. From this cohort, 15 babies developed early-onset sepsis. Machine learning was used by the researchers to determine if patterns of gene expression at birth could provide biological markers to predict sepsis.Â
‘We found four genes that, when put together in a ‘signature’, could predict sepsis in newborn babies 9 times out of 10′ says co-senior author, Dr. Amy Lee, Assistant professor of molecular biology. and biochemistry.
“So this was a unique opportunity where you have samples from all of these babies when they’re born, so you can look at the genes that are making those babies sepsis babies on the day.” This would not be a predictive signature, and most other studies have only published markers that already showed up when the babies were already ill, that would not be predictive.”
Identifying such markers so that we could ‘predict’ babies at particular risk would be a huge advantage,” explained Dr Beate Kampmann, who led the clinical component of the study from the MRC Unit in The Gambia. “Given that early recognition of sepsis is vital for infants’ survival, we would be able to target specific surveillance and treatment of such infants.”
The researchers are also hoping to eventually incorporate the signature into portable, point-of-care devices as well as into PCR tests administered within hospitals.
For example, there are devices that can do point-of-care testing for gene expression such as COVID and influenza with a single drop of blood.” “Dr. Hancock, ‘They can operate anywhere with a power source, batteries, and anyone can use them, not just trained health care providers.'” “It turns out that these portable devices could be retooled relatively easily and inexpensively to recognize this ‘signature.’
Further research would focus on a large prospective study to determine whether the signature works to predict sepsis in other populations, and to develop simple point-of-care tools for approval by relevant government bodies.
Reference: An AY, Acton E, Idoko OT, Shannon CP, Blimkie TM, Falsafi R, et al. Predictive gene expression signature diagnoses neonatal sepsis before clinical presentation. eBioMedicineÂ
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