Another example of how space exploration has practical applications on Earth
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Aug. 28, 2024 — Technology designed to conduct simple-to-take blood tests for astronauts in the near-weightlessness of low Earth orbit may soon help HonorHealth Research Institute to speed up diagnoses of patients here on the planet’s surface.
Launched in 2021, the SpaceX Inspiration4 — with the first-ever all-civilian space crew — experimented with a new blood test developed in Arizona for NASA that can be administered by non-medical personnel, in near-zero gravity, producing immediate results without needing additional laboratory analysis, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature.
The blood test is known as the Vertical Flow Immunoassay. Developed by researchers at the University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix, it was designed to perform rapid assessments of the physiological and molecular effects of time spent in space.
At the Research Institute in Scottsdale, the test could be used to quickly check on the health of patients, especially those undergoing immuno-therapy or cellular therapy, which employ the use of CAR T and bispecific antibodies.
Monitoring life-threatening toxicities
“Some of our treatments, which activate the immune system, can be associated with high-risk toxicity called cytokine release syndrome, and central nervous system toxicity,” said Michael S. Gordon, M.D., Chief Medical Officer of HonorHealth Research Institute. Both types of toxicity can be severe and even life-threatening.
“Certain tests take a up to two weeks to come back from the laboratory, which might negatively impact the ability to act to treat the patient,” said Dr. Gordon. “Here, we have a technologically advanced test that can give you an at-the-bedside analysis.”
The Institute plans to compare the Vertical Flow Immunoassay against standard blood tests to see if this new technology can improve risk stratification, and result in better decision-making about how to manage side effects, he said.
The team of students and faculty that designed the test was led by Frederic Zenhausern, Ph.D., MBA, an investigator at the Institute, director of the Center for Applied NanoBioscience and Medicine at the UA medical school, and a co-senior author of the study published June 11 in Nature.
“It was the first time that we could use that technique in space,” said Dr. Zenhausern. “It’s a very simple-to-use system and yet it allows us to do multiplex detection of various biomarkers.”
Scientists analyzed dried blood spot samples that four astronauts collected before, during and after their spaceflight, monitoring antibodies against 80 different viruses.
Could help detect biological warfare
Dr. Zenhausern said the system was originally intended to be used by the U.S. Department of Defense to help conduct immediate diagnosis of medical problems arising from biological warfare, such as the use of plague or anthrax on the battlefield.
Dr. Gordon said the Institute hopes to use the system to monitor CAR T antibodies in the treatment of blood cancers, including multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but also to monitor bispecific antibodies in the treatment of multiple myeloma, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, and — for the first time — in a solid tumor, small-cell lung cancer.
Earlier detection could allow for earlier intervention before toxicity arises, Dr. Gordon said, or it could indicate some patients who are at such a low risk for toxicities that they don’t need to be kept and monitored in the hospital as long, perhaps even at all.
“Instead of sending blood to a central laboratory, something that could not be done in the midst of space exploration, it provides us with the same type of benefit at the patient’s bedside,” Dr. Gordon said. “We see ourselves as being in the right place at the right time to develop technologies such as this.”
The Nature study — Molecular and physiologic changes in the SpaceX Inspiration4 civilian crew — was developed by an international assembly of nearly 60 authors.