Oxford Immunotec releases the T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 kit for COVID-19 research

Oxford Immunotec Global, a global diagnostics company, announced the release of the T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 test kit. This kit is for research use only and launched under the T-SPOT Discovery brand. This research kit could make a significant contribution towards development of a new tool to manage the COVID-19 pandemic, which in turn could help to bring nations out of their current lockdowns in a faster, safer and more controlled manner.

T-SPOT Discovery SARS-CoV-2 builds on Oxford Immunotec’s experience with TB diagnosis and the assessment of immune response to CMV in transplant patients, to apply the Company’s established, proprietary T-SPOT technology to the fight against COVID-19. While serology is able to detect antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in the blood of some individuals after infection, little is currently known about how this confers immunity to COVID-19. T-SPOT technology goes further than simple serology by interrogating the immune system’s T cell response and will enable research into the measurement of the strength of that response to SARS-CoV-2. The strength of this response may be linked to protection from reinfection.

T-SPOT technology is a proven technology, approved for clinical use to detect TB infection in over 60 countries including the US, China, Japan and Europe.

With over 20 million clinical tests manufactured since release, T-SPOT technology:

Uses a standardized sample prepared from peripheral blood which:

Reduces the influence of factors which might affect results, such as other treatments

Standardizes cell numbers in the test to normalize for cell number variations between samples

Allows the number of responding T cells to be enumerated for a more precise assessment of the T cell response

Is able to maintain performance, even in samples from immunosuppressed individuals

Can be run in high-volume labs enabling large testing programs to be rolled out

T-SPOT technology can also be automated using the T-Cell SelectTM reagent kit. Automation solutions are available for low, medium and high throughput settings[1].

Phill Keefe, Senior Vice President Product Design, Development and Delivery at Oxford Immunotec said, “Not everyone with COVID-19 infection has detectable antibodies in serology tests, and this may be a bigger problem in the majority who experience only mild or no symptoms. Also, it is not yet clear whether the presence of antibodies confers immunity. T cell responses develop before antibody generation and can independently provide protection, so studying T cells could give us new insights into immunity to COVID-19.”

Oxford Immunotec CEO, Peter Wrighton-Smith commented, “We are really excited about the release of this RUO T-SPOT Discovery product in such an important area for current research. This allows us to make our contribution to the battle against COVID-19. The data generated using this RUO kit, if favourable, will help us develop a T-SPOT kit which could be approved for clinical use and may help support our return to a more normal lifestyle”.