Diagnostic value of Pentraxin-3 in patients with sepsis and septic shock in accordance with latest sepsis-3 definitions

• Main Authors: Sonja Hamed, Michael Behnes, Dominic Pauly, Dominic Lepiorz, Max Barre, Tobias Becher, Siegfried Lang, Ibrahim Akin, Martin Borggrefe, Thomas Bertsch, Ursula Hoffmann
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2017-08-01
• Series: BMC Infectious Diseases
• Subjects: Sepsis; Septic shock; Pentraxin-3; ICU; Biomarkers; Sepsis-3
• Online Access: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12879-017-2606-3
• ISSN: 1471-2334

Abstract Background Pentraxin-3 (PTX-3) is an acute-phase protein involved in inflammatory and infectious processes. This study assesses its diagnostic and prognostic value in patients with sepsis or septic shock in a medical intensive care unit (ICU). Methods The study includes 213 ICU patients with clinical criteria of sepsis and septic shock. 77 donors served as controls. Plasma levels of PTX-3, procalcitonin (PCT) and interleukin-6 were measured on day 1, 3 and 8. Results PTX-3 correlated with higher lactate levels as well as with APACHE II and SOFA scores (p = 0.0001). PTX-3 levels of patients with sepsis or septic shock were consistently significantly higher than in the control group (p ≤ 0.001). Plasma levels were able to discriminate sepsis and septic shock significantly on day 1, 3 and 8 (range of AUC 0.73–0.92, p = 0.0001). Uniform cut-off levels were defined at ≥5 ng/ml for at least sepsis, ≥9 ng/ml for septic shock (p = 0.0001). Conclusion PTX-3 reveals diagnostic value for sepsis and septic shock during the first week of intensive care treatment, comparable to interleukin-6 according to latest Sepsis-3 definitions. Trial registration NCT01535534 . Registered 14.02.2012