Methods and systems for the detection and removal of pathogens from blood
AssigneeStichting Sanquin Bloedvoorziening
InventorsRobin VAN BRUGGEN, Astrid VISSER
Life of this patent
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Abstract
The invention relates to methods and systems for removal of pathogens from blood or blood products. The invention further relates to methods and systems for treatment and diagnosis of infection in the blood and/or sepsis in a patient in need thereof.
Claims21
A method for detecting pathogens selected from the group consisting of a bacterium, a virus, and a fungus in a sample of blood or of a blood product comprising red blood cells (RBCs), the method comprising:
- i) contacting said sample with a leukocyte reduction filter or with a support selected from the group consisting of a filter, microfibers, microparticles, beads, microspheres, an array, glass slides and microscope slides, said support comprising a non-specific RBC adhesion molecule binder, wherein said non-specific RBC adhesion molecule binder is a polymer or a mixture of two or more polymers that binds to adhesion molecules that become activated and are expressed on RBCs and is selected from one or more of the group consisting of polyester, polyurethane, cellulose, nylon, nitrocellulose, polypropylene, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyimide (PI), polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), and polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), and mixtures thereof, to allow binding of RBCs that have bound at least one pathogen to said leukocyte reduction filter or said support;
- ii) detecting the presence of RBCs that have bound at least one pathogen.
A system (1) for removing a pathogen from blood or a blood product, comprising:
- a separation device (2), preferably comprising a centrifuge, for separating said blood or said blood product into at least a first component comprising red blood cells (RBCs) and being substantially free of white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets and a second component comprising white blood cells (WBCs) and platelets and being substantially free of red blood cells (RBCs);
- a filter device (3) for depleting said first component substantially of RBCs that have bound at least one pathogen, said filter device comprising a non-specific RBC adhesion molecule binder, wherein said non-specific RBC adhesion molecule binder preferably is a polymer;
- a conduit (4) for conducting said first component from the separation device (2), e.g. from a first outlet thereof (2b), to the filter device (3), e.g. to an inlet thereof (3a);
- an outlet conduit (10) for conducting the filtered first component, which is substantially depleted of RBCs that have bound at least one pathogen, away from said filter device (3), wherein the system (1) is arranged to feed the filtered first component, which is substantially depleted of RBCs that have bound at least one pathogen, to a subject (9) and/or to an administering device (6b) for administering at least said filtered first component to a subject (9).
A system (1) according to claim 13 further comprising:
- a second component outlet conduit (11) for conducting the separated second component away from the separation device (2), said second component outlet conduit (11) being in fluid connection with a second outlet (2c) of the separation device (2) for letting the second component out of the separation device (2), wherein the system (1) is arranged to put the filtered first component and at least part of the second component of the blood or blood product together in order to obtain a blood or blood product substantially free of pathogens, or at least substantially free of RBC bound pathogens, preferably wherein the outlet conduit (10) for conducting the filtered first component away from the filter device (3) merges with the second component outlet conduit (11), such that the filtered first component and the second component can join, and can preferably mix.
A method for determining the presence of pathogens in a whole blood sample of an individual suspected of having an infectious pathogen in the blood, suffering from sepsis, suspected of suffering from sepsis or at risk of developing sepsis, the method comprising detecting the presence of red blood cells (RBCs) that have bound at least one pathogen using cytometry or microscopy.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.