Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory
The Nationwide Children’s Hospital Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory is comprised of a team of highly skilled academic clinical scientists and laboratory personnel who provide comprehensive and esoteric testing for the diagnosis and monitoring of complex immunological disorders. The laboratory focuses on the validation and implementation of new diagnostic immunology testing through robust research and development.
The Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory has cellular and molecular immunology sections and is actively developing and validating a broad array of immunological assays (phenotypic and functional), including certain esoteric tests not offered in any other clinical diagnostic immunology laboratory in the United States.
The laboratory has an ambitious program of test development, validation and implementation to support clinical practices, internally and externally, for excellence in delivery of care for patients with rare immunological diseases.
- Flow Cytometry for Cellular Analysis: Exhaustive immunophenotyping and immune function assays to quantitatively and functionally assess various immunologically relevant cellular subsets in blood, in the context of various immunological diseases.
- Soluble Biomarker Analysis: Assessment of biomarkers of inflammation and immune dysregulation, including cytokines and other soluble mediators.
- Genotype/Phenotype Correlations: Making the connections between genetic disorders of the immune system and clinical and laboratory immune phenotypes.
Strengths of the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory Practice
- Complex and esoteric clinical diagnostic testing for primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, transplant immunology, immune monitoring and immune reconstitution
- Phenotypic and functional immunological testing for comprehensive diagnosis
- Genotype-phenotype correlations for monogenic immune diseases
- Biorepository for patients (adult and pediatric) with immunological disorders for advancing research, clinical test development and validation
- Biorepository for healthy individuals (adult and pediatric) for interpretation of immunological data
- Creation of a database to capture census of patients with inborn errors of immunity
- Clinical diagnostic immunology consultative services
- Infrastructure – equipment and personnel to maintain and expand a cutting-edge reference laboratory
- Multi-disciplinary collaboration
In September 2018, Nationwide Children’s Hospital started the Diagnostic Immunology Program within the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, which includes the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory.
The mission of the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory/ Diagnostic Immunology Program is to provide cutting-edge immunological testing and clinical consultative services for the diagnosis and treatment of immunological diseases, including primary immunodeficiencies, and primary immune dysregulatory diseases, collectively referred to as inborn errors of immunity, secondary immunodeficiencies, and other conditions with complex immune dysfunction.
Nationwide Children’s Hospital’s Immunodeficiency program was designated a Jeffrey Modell Foundation for Primary Immunodeficiencies Diagnostic and Research Center in April 2019.
Since its inception, the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory has supported several clinical practices and areas at Nationwide Children’s, including:
- Immunodeficiency Clinic within the Division of Allergy/ Immunology
- Hematology and the Cytopenia/Immune Disorders/Lymphoproliferation Clinic
- Bone Marrow Transplantation
- Solid Organ Transplantation, particularly the cardiac and lung transplant programs
- Infectious Diseases
- Rheumatology
- Genomics
- Oncology
- Hepatology
In the spirit of collaboration, the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory aids the clinical programs within the Comprehensive Transplant Center – Lung Transplant Program/Short Telomere Diseases Group and Allergy/Immunology at The Ohio State University, and in the aforementioned groups at Nationwide Children’s with diagnostic immunology testing and consultative resources.
Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory has assisted the Bone Marrow Transplant program by developing a Clinical Practice Guideline for assessment of immune reconstitution post-hematopoietic cell transplantation, and actively supports Nationwide Children’s participation and commitment to the Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium (PIDTC) and the United States Immunodeficiency Network (USIDNET).
In addition to collaboration with The Ohio State University, the Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory also collaborates with multiple organizations across the state and country. These collaborations are mutually beneficial and advance the mission of Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory in supporting clinical, research, and educational endeavors in human immunology.
External Support and Collaboration
- ClinGen – Gene and Variant Curation Global Consortium
- CLSI – The Clinical & Laboratory Standards Institute (Document on Newborn Screening for Primary Immunodeficiencies)
- Jeffrey Modell Foundation for Primary Immunodeficiencies
- NICER – North American Immuno-Hematology Clinical Education and Research Consortium
- ODH – Ohio Department of Health (Newborn Screening Program for SCID)
- PIDTC – Primary Immune Deficiency Treatment Consortium
- USIDNET – United States Immunodeficiency Network
An important program that Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory has initiated is the creation of an immunological diseases biorepository for adult and pediatric patients with primary and secondary immunodeficiencies, immune dysregulatory diseases, and those who have undergone or are undergoing transplantation (solid organ and hematopoietic cell).
The lab has also initiated a healthy (immunologically normal) adult and pediatric biorepository/database for the development of reference intervals for interpretation of clinical immunological data.
These samples serve not only as a valuable resource for new clinical test development and validation efforts, but also advance clinical knowledge and science in the field, by characterization of rare genetic immune disorders, especially those with novel variants and atypical phenotypes.
These initiatives have poised Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory to assume a key role within the diagnostic immunology reference laboratory and clinical immunology arena in the next few years.
The Diagnostic Immunology Laboratory is active in the education of fellows and residents and offers a variety of training opportunities in the laboratory for those interested in a career in clinical immunology, in addition to providing educational information to clinical groups on the diagnostic immunology testing repertoire.
For Diagnostic Immunology Testing Requisition Form, click here.
For Diagnostic Immunology Monocyte Type I and II Interferon (IFN) Signature Quantitation panel (T1A2MP) Patient Information Form, click here
For DNA Repair Assessment (DDRFL) Patient Information Form, click here.
If you would like to learn more information about the Diagnostic Immunology Program at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, or want to discuss specific immunology testing, please contact Laboratory Services at (877) 934-6575 or email Roshini S. Abraham, PhD, D(ABLMI), FAAAAI, at Roshini.Abraham@NationwideChildrens.org.
