Rapid determination of complement activation in the battlefield

The objective of this program is to develop a portable biosensor system to facilitate the rapid evaluation of complement activation in injured personnel. Traumatic blood loss and tissue damage resulting from civilian or battlefield trauma leads to complement activation that, if left untreated, contributes to further tissue damage, shock, respiratory distress syndrome and multiorgan failure. Appropriate inhibition of complement activation is expected to limit tissue damage in such cases. However, since complement is central in the protection against infectious agents, extensive inhibition may lead to overwhelming infection and sepsis. The ability to determine and monitor the extent of complement activation in injured personnel is, therefore, the critical first step for providing appropriate inhibition treatment. In Phase I we successfully demonstrated the feasibility of our sensor technology by measuring two key complement proteins. In Phase II, methods developed in the Phase I will be refined and expanded through optimization of sensor and assay design, expansion of the Phase I sensor to a greater number of assays, and the development of a robust, reliable and portable multianalyte assaying system.