Supplementing Clinical Management of Kawasaki Disease through Electrochemical Quantification of IP-10

Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute, systemic vasculitis and the leading cause of acquired heart disease. While KD is easily diagnosed with full clinical symptoms, recognizing incomplete or atypical manifestations is challenging due to a limited understanding of its causes, lack of association with a single pathogen, and symptom overlap with common infantile diseases. As our understanding of biomarkers has progressed, efforts have been made to identify unique biomarker profiles in KD. IP-10, a driving chemokine, induces and maintains inflammation in the body, particularly the heart, influencing cardiac diseases. The heightened immune response during acute KD makes IP-10 a promising diagnostic adjunct and indicator of clinical progression. Given its role in activating and regulating inflammatory and immune responses, we propose interferon-gamma inducible protein 10 (IP-10) as one of these markers. Electrochemical biosensors offer a rapid, portable, and affordable alternative to traditional clinical laboratory standards. We showcase sensitive detection and quantification of IP-10 in plasma using a gold electrode platform functionalized with an antibody. The sensor can detect IP-10 up to 8100 pg/mL using 10 μL of sample with great recovery in spiked samples, with <20% variation between the sensors.