The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need for sensitive diagnostic platforms and novel biomarkers. EBOV soluble glycoprotein (sGP) represents a unique and powerful biomarker for the detection of EBOV infection and EVD prognosis for several reasons. The presence of sGP in the blood prior to, or simultaneously with, PCR-based assays improves the diagnostic window. As previously noted, survival outcomes from EBOV infection depend critically on the initiation of supportive measures, which heavily rely on accurate diagnoses in resource-limited settings. Rapid diagnosis facilitates faster treatment initiation, thereby improving patient outcomes (Chertow et al., 2014; Feldmann and Geisbert, 2011; Fowler et al., 2014). Quarantine of affected individuals has profound implications in infection and outbreak management and prevention. Alternatively, a confirmation of a negative test allows for healthcare providers to efficiently leverage their resources in treating patients. Because sGP is a protein biomarker, there is flexibility in the assay designs that can be used with the biomarker (e.g., lateral flow assays). The NHP study suggests that levels
IBT and collabortors describe a rapid and sensitive diagnostic for EVD through microring resonator sensors in conjunction with a unique biomarker of EBOV infection, soluble glycoprotein (sGP). Microring resonator sensors detected sGP in under 40 min with a limit of detection (LOD) as low as 1.00 ng/mL in serum. Furthermore, we validated our assay with the detection of sGP in serum from EBOV-infected non-human primates.
