JW Bioscience "Sepsis Diagnostic Kit, Early Prediction of Severe Patients"

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] JW BioScience, a subsidiary of JW Holdings, has developed the world’s first ‘WRS diagnostic kit,’ which has shown results in clinical trials indicating early prediction of severe sepsis patients.

On the 15th, JW Holdings announced that clinical results confirming the clinical efficacy of WRS were published in the latest issue of the International Journal of Infectious Diseases.

The study, led by Professor Jung Kyung-soo of the Department of Pulmonology at Severance Hospital, Yonsei University, was published under the title “Diagnostic Performance and Prognostic Prediction Analysis of Tryptophanyl-tRNA Synthetase (WRS) in Severe Sepsis Patients.” Conducted over three years from 2015, the study involved 190 patients diagnosed with sepsis out of 241 admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) at Severance Hospital. The research compared WRS with existing sepsis and inflammation diagnostic biomarkers such as procalcitonin (PCT), C-reactive protein (CRP), and interleukin-6 (IL-6).

According to the study, WRS demonstrated statistically significantly higher diagnostic accuracy compared to PCT, CRP, and IL-6. Additionally, measurements taken on the first day of ICU admission from patients who died within 28 days showed that, unlike existing diagnostic markers, WRS levels significantly increased, indicating its usefulness not only for early detection of sepsis but also for mortality prediction.

The company explained that this suggests the possibility that WRS can diagnose cytokine storms in advance. WRS is a biomarker confirmed in a 2016 paper published in the international journal Nature Microbiology to be secreted into the bloodstream earlier than major inflammatory substances that cause cytokine storms, such as TNF-alpha and IL-6.

Professor Jung said, “This study verified the comprehensive diagnostic and prognostic performance of WRS for sepsis. However, theoretically, WRS is activated not only by bacteria but also by viruses, so it is expected to have high diagnostic value for viral infections such as COVID-19 as well as bacterial sepsis.”

JW BioScience is currently conducting clinical trials for the development of the WRS diagnostic kit at Severance Hospital, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, and Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital, and plans to apply for product approval in the second half of this year.

A representative of JW BioScience said, “Pathogens and RNA viruses, which are major causes of pandemics, mutate rapidly, making it difficult for current diagnostic and treatment methods to keep up with the speed of these changes. As we are developing the WRS diagnostic kit through open innovation with domestic and international researchers, we aim to successfully commercialize it and contribute to the advancement of predictive and preventive medicine.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.