title: sRAGE is elevated in septic patients and associated with patients outcome.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  (1) To evaluate in septic patients the plasma levels of soluble receptor for advanced glycation end products (sRAGE), a soluble splice variant of the full length receptor RAGE, which is involved in acute inflammation (2) to determine whether sRAGE could be used as a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker in sepsis in the surgical intensive care unit.
  
  
  METHODS
  An observational clinical noninterventional pilot study in a surgical intensive care unit with patients admitted to the intensive care unit over a 6-mo period with clinical evidence of severe sepsis or septic shock.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-nine intensive care patients were enrolled in the study within the first 24 h after onset of severe sepsis or septic shock. Eight healthy volunteers served as controls. Plasma sRAGE concentrations were elevated in septic patients compared with healthy volunteers (1764 +/- 138 versus 1026 +/- 177 pg/mL, P < 0.05). Additionally, nonsurvivors after 28 days have had higher plasma sRAGE concentrations than survivors (2302 +/- 189 versus 1326 +/- 112 pg/mL, P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of plasma sRAGE concentrations of septic patients showed a specificity of 75% and a sensitivity of 84.6% with 1596 pg/mL as cutoff.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study showing elevated plasma sRAGE concentrations in septic patients. It is noteworthy that nonsurvivors had higher plasma sRAGE concentrations than survivors, suggesting that sRAGE is related to severity and outcome of septic patients. Further clinical studies are required to investigate the usefulness of sRAGE as a new sepsis marker.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany. Christian.Bopp@med.uni-heidelberg.de
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bopp
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hofer
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Weitz
authors.forename: Angelika
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bierhaus
authors.forename: Peter P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Nawroth
authors.forename: Eike
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martin
authors.forename: Markus W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Büchler
authors.forename: Markus A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Weigand
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015415:Biomarkers; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000502:physiology; D000067759:Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000097:blood*; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D016328:NF-kappa B; D000067759:Receptor for Advanced Glycation End Products; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic