Biotechnology company bioAffinity Technologies is partnering with the Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas, in a pilot study to evaluate its proprietary cytometry+AI testing platform. If successful, the study could lead to the development of novel diagnostic tests designed to help align patients with the most effective treatments and monitor the effects of those treatments over time.
The study will enroll approximately 40 participants in three cohorts: patients with COPD, patients with asthma and a healthy control group. The objective is to use automated analysis of sputum samples collected from the patients with asthma and COPD to identify and measure select immune cell populations and cytokines in the sputum that can direct treatment and monitor the effectiveness of therapies.
“Our flow cytometry platform provides a novel, noninvasive way to assess lung inflammation at the cellular level,” said Gordon Downie, MD, PhD, bioAffinity’s chief medical officer, in a press release. “By identifying a broader panel of inflammatory biomarkers, we hope to help shift asthma and COPD management toward a precision medicine model, where treatment is guided by each patient’s unique inflammatory signature rather than a one-size-fits-all approach. Our technology also has the potential to help physicians monitor treatment response over time, improving patient outcomes.”
BioAffinity said its goal is to determine whether its lung inflammation tests, including flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis, can help physicians tailor more effective treatment strategies for COPD and asthma.
“We have made tremendous strides over the last decade in our understanding of the pathophysiology of asthma and COPD,” said John J. Oppenheimer, MD, professor at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Rutgers and member of the bioAffinity board of directors. “Emerging tools — such as bioAffinity’s cytometry+AI platform — will likely accelerate this progress by enabling direct assessment of a patient’s inflammatory milieu within the lung. With this level of resolution, we can better stratify the risk of disease progression and more accurately match the right medicine to the right patient.”
