An article indicating how suPAR was implemented in the A. Gemelli Hospital (Rome, Italy), beyond COVID-19 cases, was recently published in Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine.

As the authors highlight, it is an ongoing process to evaluate how an organization can improve its processes, to guarantee the best possible healthcare, to deliver the right test to the right patient prompt the right action, and to reduce overall healthcare costs, inspired by that notion they have decided to implement suPAR.

The hospital first started implementing suPAR in their routine during the fight against COVID 19 disease, in the Polyclinic A. Gemelli laboratory, where several routine and novel biomarkers have been used to identify patients at higher risk of developing severe diseases and to ensure the safe and quick discharge of patients who will not develop severe and fatal forms.

Among these novel biomarkers, the suPAR assay was introduced in March 2021 in our High Automation Core lab (the first clinical routine customer in Italy and one of the study sites from the SAVE-MORE clinical trial) to answer and meet the infectious disease specialist requests to identify COVID-19 patients to be treated in early stages with Anakinra.

The first commercially available dosages were ELISA methods (suPARnostic® ViroGates or Human uPAR R&D systems), then a lateral flow assay for point-of-care use (suPARnostic® Quick Triage, ViroGates) was produced and the technology for using suPAR in clinical routine has hampered its implementation.

After the success during the pandemic time, the hospital realized the potential of suPAR and started to implement and require it in cardiological, hematological, nephrological, and hemodialyzed patients, in critically ill patients with suspected sepsis or Acute Coronary Syndrome, mainly for risk stratification in several clinical settings, not exclusively infectious.

According to the authors due to the routine availability of the test and ability to make decisions supported by the evidence from the scientific literature on suPAR clinical utility, clinicians began to use and appreciate the suPAR, in a variety of conditions beyond the COVID 19 disease.

The suPAR test introduced during the SARS Cov 2 pandemic to answer infectious disease specialists’ request is progressively becoming a predictive and independent biomarker for hospital clinicians to evaluate the patient outcome in diversified areas, improve diagnostic accuracy, guide therapeutic decisions and to safely and quickly distinguish between high-risk acute patients who will require admission to hospitals and low-risk patients who can be discharged.

The authors conclude that the suPAR assay implementation in routine clinical workflow supports healthcare professionals in making clinical decisions and improving patient management and outcomes.