Predictive value of serial measurements of sTREM-1 in the treatment response of patients with community-acquired pneumonia.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the roles of plasma sTREM-1 (soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1) and C-reactive protein (CRP) in predicting treatment response in patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).


METHODS
Patients with CAP were enrolled prospectively at a medical center in central Taiwan from September 1, 2004 to July 31, 2005. They were treated according to the guidelines proposed by the American Thoracic Society. Patients were noted as nonresponsive to initial treatment if they had one of the following: persistent fever for more than 3 days, progression on chest radiograph, switching to other antibiotics, or need of mechanical ventilation and/or chest tube drainage.


RESULTS
Fifty-eight patients (43 males/15 females; mean age, 67 +/- 21 years) with CAP were enrolled. Twelve (12/58, 21%) were nonresponsive. In the response group, CRP was reduced up to 58% from day 1 to day 3 (from 18.8 to 7.8 mg/dL), whereas sTREM-1 was reduced by only 15% (from 32.8 to 28.1 pg/mL). In the nonresponse group, CRP still declined 20% (from 22.2 to 17.7 mg/dL), whereas sTREM-1 was persistently high (from 61.7 to 63.7 pg/mL). Using multivariate logistic regression analysis, both CRP (p = 0.006) and sTREM-1 (p = 0.046) on day 3 predicted treatment response significantly, but CRP on day 3 had stronger statistic power.


CONCLUSIONS
Both CRP and sTREM-1 on day 3 could be useful in predicting nonresponsive CAP patients. Differential trends between sTREM-1 and CRP in nonresponsive CAP suggest that sTREM-1 could be an adjuvant biomarker to CRP in predicting CAP patients without response to empiric treatment.
Chao
Wen-Cheng
WC
Division of Chest Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan.
Wang
Chia-Hui
CH
Chan
Ming-Cheng
MC
Chow
Kuan-Chih
KC
Hsu
Jeng-Yuan
JY
Wu
Chieh-Liang
CL
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D002097:C-Reactive Protein / Q000032:analysis; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007958:Leukocyte Count; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018410:Pneumonia, Bacterial / Q000097:blood / Q000188:drug therapy*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000097:blood*; D000073871:Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1
D015415:Biomarkers; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; C408842:TREM1 protein, human; D000073871:Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1; D002097:C-Reactive Protein