This technology is a biomarker test for acute kidney injury that can predict the risk, duration, and severity of injury in patients with severe COVID-19.
Acute kidney injury (AKI) is an alarming complication in severe COVID-19 patients associated with increased mortality. Early detection of AKI in critically ill COVID-19 patients can quickly inform treatment decisions and improve outcomes. Unfortunately, current biomarkers for AKI, such as serum creatinine, proteinuria, and kidney injury molecule-1, are not rapidly responsive to kidney damage and cannot predict COVID-19-related AKI. To quickly triage COVID-19 patients at risk for kidney injury and loss of function, a rapid, sensitive, specific biomarker of kidney damage associated with COVID-19 infection is needed.
This technology uses neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) as a predictive biomarker for COVID-19-associated AKI. Unlike other AKI biomarkers, NGAL was shown to be strongly associated with severe AKI and poor prognosis in COVID-19 patients. To assess the risk of kidney injury, the amount of NGAL detected in a patient’s urine or blood is compared to a reference amount. Levels of NGAL similar to or higher than this reference indicate a high risk of kidney injury associated with severe COVID-19.
This technology has been validated using clinical urine and blood samples from a large cohort of SARS-CoV-2-infected patients.
IR CU21235
Licensing Contact: Mitchell Fullerton