| Popis: |
During times of hospitalization, isolation and lockdown, the COVID-19 pandemic was and continues to be physically and mentally challenging to the global population. The necessity for a quick, easily adoptable, and relatively inexpensive tool to determine a person’s immune status to COVID-19 became increasingly urgent and relevant to everyday decisions. The 3DEP device, developed at the University of Surrey, is a machine which characterises the electrophysiological properties of cells using the phenomenon of dielectrophoresis. In a collaboration of researchers in FEPS and FHMS, we investigated whether the electrical properties of white blood cells, characterised by the 3DEP, could be used to differentiate individuals who had not been exposed to COVID-19 and those who had, either through infection or by vaccination. White blood cells were isolated from the whole blood of a total of 12 different donors, consisting of four donor cohorts: never had COVID (n=8), recovered from COVID (n=4), one vaccine dose (n=2) and two vaccine doses (n=2). Isolated cell samples were stimulated with the covid spike protein for three hours, after which their electrical properties were characterised using the 3DEP. On analysis of spectra generated by the 3DEP, a threshold value for one data point differentiated individuals who had and had not been exposed to COVID-19 with a sensitivity of 85.7% and specificity of 100%. However, limitations of this experiment include whether the difference in the electrophysiological properties of white blood cells were due to immune responses to the covid spike protein specifically, or non-specific interactions with a molecule in the buffer. Current experiments aim to investigate differences in the electrical properties of white blood cells when exposed to the buffer, the covid spike protein and a hepatitis B protein. This will determine if the difference in donor cohorts previously reported is a specific response to COVID-19 or not. |
