Protein quantification platforms for use in critical care precision medicine trials: protocol for a scoping review

Syndromes encountered in critical care medicine have significant underlying biological heterogeneity. Researchers are increasingly using enrichment methods to identify putative treatment responsive subphenotypes of critical illness syndromes. The methods used to identify these subphenotypes often rely on assays for the quantification of plasma proteins (usually inflammatory cytokines) that are technically challenging and time consuming, limiting their utility in a clinical setting. In order to use critical illness subphenotypes to guide treatment decisions, automated platforms that can reliably quantify plasma proteins in a clinically-actionable timeframe are needed. This protocol outlines the procedure for a scoping review that aims to identify such platforms. The review will follow the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology framework for scoping reviews and will be reported according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews. This protocol defines the review questions, defines eligibility criteria, identifies concepts of interest, outlines the search strategy and study selection process, and provides a procedure for data extraction and analysis. Searches will be conducted on PubMed and Embase for published scientific literature, on OpenGrey to review the grey literature, and on Espacenet to review patent registries. Search results will be supplemented with personal company correspondences.