title: Evidence for serum miR-15a and miR-16 levels as biomarkers that distinguish sepsis from systemic inflammatory response syndrome in human subjects.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Serum microRNAs may be useful biomarkers for diagnosing human diseases. We investigated serum levels of miR-15a and miR-16 in patients with sepsis and systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) without infection.
  
  
  METHODS
  We enrolled 166 sepsis patients, 32 SIRS patients, and 24 normal controls. Serum miR-15a and miR-16 expression levels were determined by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays (qRT-PCR).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum miR-15a (p<0.001) and miR-16 (p<0.05) were both significantly higher in sepsis patients compared with normal controls, and miR-15a (p<0.001) and miR-16 (p<0.01) levels in SIRS patients were also significantly higher than those in normal controls. Serum miR-15a and miR-16 levels were not correlated with white blood cell counts. Receiver operating characteristic curves showed that miR-15a had the highest area under the curve of 0.858 [95% confidence interval (CI) 0.800-0.916] for the diagnosis of sepsis compared with C reactive protein and procalcitonin with areas under the curve of 0.572 (95% CI 0.479-0.665; p=0.198) and 0.605 (95% CI 0.443-0.767; p=0.168), respectively. When its cut-off point was set at 0.21, serum miR-15a had a sensitivity of 68.3% and a specificity of 94.4%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serum miR-15a and miR-16 can both distinguish sepsis/SIRS from normal controls. miR-15a may be a biomarker that distinguishes between sepsis and SIRS.
authors.affiliation: Department of Respiratory Medicine, Chinese PLA General Hospital, Beijing, PR China.
authors.forename: Huijuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Pengjun
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Weijun
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Yanhong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Li-xin
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Xie
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D008875:Middle Aged; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D018805:Sepsis / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics; D018746:Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; C505361:MIRN15 microRNA, human; C505362:MIRN16 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs