Abstract:

Objective     To evaluate the role of serum miR-146a in early diagnosis of sepsis. Methods    From January 2012 to February 2013, serum samples from patients diagnosed with sepsis in intensive care unit (ICU), SIRS in general surgery and healthy controls in Qilu HosPital of Shandong University were collected and their data about age, gender, body mass index (BMI) were recorded at the same time. The expression levels of serum miR-146a in all subjects were determined by Taqman-probe real-time quantitative PCR and the diagnostic performance of serum miR-146a was analyzed by Receiver Operating Characteristic Curve (ROC). Results   Serum miR-146a was significantly reduced in group A compared to the patients in group B and C (P＜0.05) and the sensitivity, specificity and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve were 99.0%, 68.0%, 0.82, respectively. In addition, the levels of serum miR-146a in the patients with sepsis was lower than those in the patients with SIRS (P＜0.05). Conclusion    Serum miR-146a could serve as a new diagnostic biomarker for sepsis with higher sensitivity and specificity. What′s more, it could distinguish sepsis from SIRS.

Key words: Sepsis; Early diagnosis; miR-146a; ROC curve; Diagnositc biomarker