A skin sweat sensor designed to measure cytokine levels continuously for up to 168 hours can be deployed to detect the deadly cytokine storms that occur in patients with COVID-19 and other illnesses, such as influenza. Device developers from the University of Texas and Texas startup EnLiSense hope that it might serve as an early warning system for an impending storm of these pro-inflammatory immune proteins and facilitate early treatment.
Cytokine storms lead to intense inflammation that can cause significant damage to organs, sometimes leading to death. As they can occur in severe cases of COVID-19, methods to predict an impending storm would be useful for clinicians. Blood tests provide only a snapshot of cytokine levels, prompting the researchers to pursue sweat sensing technology as a viable alternative for obtaining continuous measurements.
A sweat sensor previously developed to monitor inflammatory bowel disease markers was re-engineered for this application. The device is equipped with two electrodes and a disposable sensor strip coated with antibodies against seven pro-inflammatory proteins. As sweat-diffused cytokines bind to the sensor strip, changes in the electric current running through the device are measured and wirelessly transmitted to a smartphone.
Clinical trials are now being planned for the sweat sensor. The research was presented at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society (ACS) ACS Spring 2021.
