Huihuang Huang1, Ruonan Xu2, Fang Lin3, Chunmei Bao4, Siyu Wang2, Chengcheng Ji3, Ke Li3, Lei Jin2, Jingsong Mu3, Yonggang Wang3, Lei Li3, Lijian Sun3, Biao Xu3, Zheng Zhang5, Fu-Sheng Wang6. 1. Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China; The Institute of Intensive Care Unit, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China. 2. Research Center for Biological Therapy, The Institute of Translational Hepatology, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, 100039, China. 3. The Institute of Intensive Care Unit, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China. 4. The Institute of Clinical Examination Center, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, China. 5. Research Center for Biological Therapy, The Institute of Translational Hepatology, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, 100039, China. Electronic address: zhangzheng1975@aliyun.com. 6. Medical School of Chinese PLA, Beijing, China; Research Center for Biological Therapy, The Institute of Translational Hepatology, Beijing 302 Hospital, Beijing, 100039, China. Electronic address: fswang302@163.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Sepsis encompasses two phases, the 'hyper'-reactive phase and the 'hypo'-reactive phase. The initial inflammatory stage is quickly counterbalanced by an anti-inflammatory response, which compromises the immune system, leading to immune suppression. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis by inducing immunosuppression; however, the role of CD39(+) Tregs in the process of sepsis is uncertain. This study investigated the dynamic levels of CD39(+) Tregs and their phenotypic change in sepsis. METHODS: Fourteen patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), 42 patients with sepsis, and 14 healthy controls were enrolled. Sequential blood samples were used to analyze the numbers of CD39(+) Tregs and their phenotypic changes. Survival at 28 days was used to evaluate the capacity of CD39(+) Treg levels to predict mortality in sepsis patients. RESULTS: Sepsis patients displayed a high percentage (3.13%, 1.46%, and 0.35%, respectively) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) (59.65, 29.7, and 24.3, respectively) of CD39(+) Tregs compared with SIRS patients and healthy subjects. High-level expression of CD39(+) Tregs was correlated with the severity of sepsis, which was reflected by the sepsis-related organ failure assessment score (r=0.322 and r=0.31, respectively). In addition, the expression of CD39(+) Tregs was associated with survival of sepsis patients (p<0.01). By receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the percentage and MFI of CD39(+) Tregs showed similar sensitivities and specificities to predict mortality (74.2% and 85.1%, and 73.9% and 84.1%, respectively). Using Kaplan-Meier curves to assess the impact of CD39(+) Tregs percentage and MFI on overall survival, we found that a high CD39(+) Tregs percentage (p<0.001; >4.1%) and MFI (p<0.001; >49.2) were significantly associated with mortality. Phenotypically, CD39(+) Tregs from sepsis patients showed high expression of CD38 and PD-1 (p<0.01 and p<0.01 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Increased expression of CD39(+) Tregs was associated with a poor prognosis for sepsis patients, which suggests that CD39(+) Treg levels could be used as a biomarker to predict the outcome of sepsis patients.
BACKGROUND:Sepsis encompasses two phases, the 'hyper'-reactive phase and the 'hypo'-reactive phase. The initial inflammatory stage is quickly counterbalanced by an anti-inflammatory response, which compromises the immune system, leading to immune suppression. Regulatory T cells (Tregs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of sepsis by inducing immunosuppression; however, the role of CD39(+) Tregs in the process of sepsis is uncertain. This study investigated the dynamic levels of CD39(+) Tregs and their phenotypic change in sepsis. METHODS: Fourteen patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), 42 patients with sepsis, and 14 healthy controls were enrolled. Sequential blood samples were used to analyze the numbers of CD39(+) Tregs and their phenotypic changes. Survival at 28 days was used to evaluate the capacity of CD39(+) Treg levels to predict mortality in sepsispatients. RESULTS:Sepsispatients displayed a high percentage (3.13%, 1.46%, and 0.35%, respectively) and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) (59.65, 29.7, and 24.3, respectively) of CD39(+) Tregs compared with SIRS patients and healthy subjects. High-level expression of CD39(+) Tregs was correlated with the severity of sepsis, which was reflected by the sepsis-related organ failure assessment score (r=0.322 and r=0.31, respectively). In addition, the expression of CD39(+) Tregs was associated with survival of sepsispatients (p<0.01). By receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the percentage and MFI of CD39(+) Tregs showed similar sensitivities and specificities to predict mortality (74.2% and 85.1%, and 73.9% and 84.1%, respectively). Using Kaplan-Meier curves to assess the impact of CD39(+) Tregs percentage and MFI on overall survival, we found that a high CD39(+) Tregs percentage (p<0.001; >4.1%) and MFI (p<0.001; >49.2) were significantly associated with mortality. Phenotypically, CD39(+) Tregs from sepsispatients showed high expression of CD38 and PD-1 (p<0.01 and p<0.01 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Increased expression of CD39(+) Tregs was associated with a poor prognosis for sepsispatients, which suggests that CD39(+) Treg levels could be used as a biomarker to predict the outcome of sepsispatients.
Authors: Moonjoo Han; Anna L Roberts; Brooke A Migliore; Ana María Cárdenas; Scott L Weiss Journal: Pediatr Crit Care Med Date: 2020-04 Impact factor: 3.624