# Diagnosis of MIS-C in febrile children

> **NIH NIH R61** · CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA · 2022 · $871,132

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
The recent emergence of SARS-CoV-2 and resultant pandemic of COVID-19 disease has overwhelmed global
health systems and led to over 200,000 American deaths to date. While initial reports suggested that SARS-
CoV-2 infection in children was generally benign, a novel post-inflammatory syndrome known as multisystem
inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) has now been described. MIS-C in children is characterized by fever,
systemic inflammation, and end-organ involvement, and the majority of patients are IgG seropositive for SARS-
CoV-2. Because the clinical features of MIS-C overlap with other infections and inflammatory disorders, new
strategies for diagnosis of MIS-C in febrile children are urgently needed. Our immediate objective (during the
R61 phase) is to determine the reproducible changes in breath, urine, and salivary volatile composition in chil-
dren diagnosed with MIS-C. We will integrate these discovery studies with clinical and immunological profiling to
develop (during R61 phase) and validate (during R33 phase) a novel and much-needed MIS-C diagnostic, which
is expected to have a major impact on care of febrile children. Our long-term goal to develop a diagnostic strategy
to distinguish children with MIS-C from children with other causes of fever. Supported by our strong preliminary
data that indicate our expertise and feasibility of this strategy, our objectives will be met through three specific
aims: 1) Characterize breath biomarkers in children with MIS-C (R61); 2) Relate breath VOC changes to virolog-
ical, disease severity, and immunological features of MIS-C (R61); and 3) Validate our novel MIS-C diagnostic
for clinical use (R33). The proposed research is significant, because we will progress in development of new,
much-needed MIS-C rapid diagnostic tool.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10320489
- **Project number:** 4R61HD105594-02
- **Recipient organization:** CHILDREN'S HOSP OF PHILADELPHIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Hamid Bassiri
- **Activity code:** R61 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $871,132
- **Award type:** 4N
- **Project period:** 2021-01-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10320489

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10320489, Diagnosis of MIS-C in febrile children (4R61HD105594-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10320489. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*