A research team has received a $4.87 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense to “develop a clinical test and handheld device to measure the amount of two biological markers in the blood that can help physicians quickly group patients with sepsis into either a high-risk hyperinflammatory profile or a less severe hypoinflammatory profile.”
Critically ill patients typically arrive at ICUs with similar symptoms, but researchers “have revealed that sepsis patients actually fall into two distinct profiles, based on biological clues in their blood: one with severe inflammation and organ damage, and the other with a less severe response.” Targeting treatments to these profiles could help sepsis treatments become more effective. Therapies “that were previously deemed unsuccessful may prove to be effective for patients with the severe inflammation profile.”
At least 1.7 million people develop sepsis annually in the U.S., and roughly 21% of those patients die. The mortality rate “increases to around 50% in patients with the hyperinflammatory profile of sepsis. Treatment includes antibiotics to fight the infection and supportive therapy for organs that have endured damage, but this approach misses an important piece” – the body’s “dysregulated response to the infection.”
An earlier study found that “the blood levels of two inflammatory cytokines — interleukin-8 (IL-8) and soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor 1 (sTNFR-1) — were reliable indicators of whether the person has a high or low inflammatory response.” Treatment efficacy differed between the two groups. The researchers will attempt to develop a “rapid clinical test to capture” the cytokines from a few drops of plasma to measure the amount.
