Unmet Need / Invention Novelty: Treatment with immunosuppressionis required for patients who have undergone solid organ transplantation or who have autoimmune diseases but no standard test exists that can sensitively measure immune cells for the extent of suppression. There is a critical need for a sensitive approach that can quantify the degree of immune cell suppression to aid fine tuned administration of immunosuppressive agents to ideal levels that prevent organ rejection or autoimmune disease while maintaining sufficient immune function to respond to vaccination or infection.
Technical Details: Researchers at Johns Hopkins developed an approach to quantify the degree of immune cell suppression by simultaneously assessing combinations of cell phenotypes and metabolic function. This sensitive approach can closely measure the level of immune suppression regardless of the combinations of drugs used and provides the opportunity for immunosuppressive drug doses to be optimally adjusted in a manner that prevents organ rejection and autoimmune disease without excessive suppressive effects.
Value Proposition:
· Quantifies the degree of immune cell suppression in patients treated with immunosuppressive drugs.
· Guides dose adjustments to optimal level of immune suppression.
· Enables effective immune suppression to prevent organ rejection or autoimmune disease.
Stage of Development: Experimental data from ex vivo solid organ transplant recipients..
Related Publication(s)/Related Technology: Manuscript submitted.