title: Elevated calcitonin precursor levels are related to mortality in an animal model of sepsis.
abstract: BACKGROUND: Increased serum levels of procalcitonin (ProCT) and its component peptides have been reported in humans with sepsis. Using a hamster model of bacterial peritonitis, we investigated whether serum ProCT levels are elevated and correlate with mortality and hypocalcemia. RESULTS: Incremental increases in doses of bacteria resulted in proportional increases in 72h mortality rates (0, 20, 70, and 100%) as well as increases in serum total immunoreactive calcitonin (iCT) levels at 12 h (250, 380, 1960, and 4020 pg/ml, respectively, vs control levels of 21 pg/ml). Gel filtration studies revealed that ProCT was the predominant (> 90%) molecular form of serum iCT secreted. In the metabolic experiments, total iCT peaked at 12 h concurrent with the maximal decrease in serum calcium. CONCLUSIONS: In this animal model, hyper-procalcitoninemia was an early systemic marker of sepsis which correlated closely with mortality and had an inverse correlation with serum calcium levels.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Veterans Affairs Medical Center and George Washington University Medical Center, 2150 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20037, USA. jcwhite1@erols.com
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Steinwald
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Whang
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Snider
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Nylen
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: White