Abstract
Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are an emerging biomarker for sepsis patients. The purpose of this study was to identify novel miRNAs in the sera of sepsis patients and determine their prognostic value. Ninety-four serum samples were collected from sepsis patients within 24 hours of intensive care unit admission. Solexa sequencing followed by bioinformatics analysis was used to predict novel miRNAs in survivors (n=9) and non-survivors (n=9). A total of 650 novel miRNAs were predicted by bioinformatics analysis after Solexa sequencing, and 41 novel miRNAs were validated in 10 survivors, 10 non-survivors, and 10 healthy controls by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Among these 41 miRNAs, 18 were present in both survivors and non-survivors, and 9 were differentially expressed between the 2 groups. The expression levels of the 9 miRNAs were determined by qRT-PCR in 32 non-survivors and 24 survivors, and 6 were differentially expressed. Conjoin analysis of the 6 miRNAs showed that the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for the predictive value of the 6 miRNAs was 0.913 (95% CI 0.841-0.985). When the cutoff point was set at 0.372, the 6 miRNAs provided a sensitivity of 87.5% and a specificity of 87.5%. In conclusion, 41 novel miRNAs were detectable in the sera of sepsis patients, and 6 of them might be related to sepsis outcome.
- © 2013 ERS
