Unmet Need / Invention Novelty: SARS-CoV-2 infection can result in severe disease in a subset of infected patients. However, the mechanism underlying severe infection is unknown, hindering patient stratification. There is an unmet need to quickly diagnose and detect markers of severe COVID-19 infection.
Technical Details: Researchers at Johns Hopkins have developed an assay to detect angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) IgM autoantibodies as a reliable method to stratify COVID-19 patients. ACE2 autoantobodies recognize ACE2 in patients with severe infection, but rarely in patients that are not ventilated. The disclosed assay was shown to rapidly detect anti-ACE2 autoantibodies from biological samples with high accuracy and specificity. These finding are of predictive and therapeutic importance.
Value Proposition:
· ACE2 autoantigen marks high probability of severe COVID-19 outcomes
· Rapid and simple assay to detect autoantigens and diagnose severe disease from patient samples
Looking for Partners to: Develop & commercialize as a point-of-care diagnostic and triaging tool.
Stage of Development: Pre-Clinical
Data Availability: in vitro data, including data with serum from SARS-CoV-2 and healthy control patients.
Inventors: Antony Rosen & Livia Casciola-Rosen
Patent Status: Provisional patent application filed.
Publication(s)/Related Technology: Casciola-Rosen et al. 2020. IgM autoantibodies recognizing ACE2 are associated with severe COVID-19. medRxiv. Preprint.
