Autoantibodies against oxidated low density lipoproteins (oLAb) and procalcitonin (PCT) as prognostic markers for patients suffering from sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS)

Objective

To investigate the role of lipidperoxidation and infection during acute sepsis we measured antoantibodies against oxidated LDL (oLAb) and procalcitonin (PCT) comparing the neopterin as a marker of macrophages activation and CRP as marker of inflammation.

Design

A prospective, descriptive cohort study.

Patients

23 patients admitted to the ICU with verified sepsis (n=12, s=6) or SIRS (n=11, s = 6).

Measurements and results

The clinical severity of the disease was asessed using the APACHE II score over a period of 24 h after admission. Determination of serum levels of all parameters under study was performed on daily drawn serum samples. Surviving septic patients produced significantly increasing oLAbs (P < 0.001) as significantly decreasing PCT levels (P < 0.001). In contrast, in non-survivors oLAbs were decreasing (P < 0.05) and PCT levels were increasing (P < 0.05).

The identical effect was found for the SIRS group with the exception, that the significance of PCT in survivors was slightly lower (P < 0.05).

Conclusion

Despite both patient groups were rather small, we consider that the measurement of oLAb as well as PCT to be a useful prognostic marker concerning the outcome of sepsis as well as of SIRS patients.