title: Sensitivity and Specificity of Soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1, Midregional Proatrial Natriuretic Peptide and Midregional Proadrenomedullin for Distinguishing Etiology and to Assess Severity in Community-Acquired Pneumonia.
abstract: METHODS
  This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of soluble triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cells-1 (sTREM-1), midregional proatrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) and midregional proadrenomedullin (MR-proADM) to distinguish bacterial from viral community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and to identify severe cases in children hospitalized for radiologically confirmed CAP. Index test results were compared with those derived from routine diagnostic tests, i.e., white blood cell (WBC) counts, neutrophil percentages, and serum C-reactive protein (CRP) and procalcitonin (PCT) levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  This prospective, multicenter study was carried out in the most important children's hospitals (n = 11) in Italy and 433 otherwise healthy children hospitalized for radiologically confirmed CAP were enrolled. Among cases for whom etiology could be determined, CAP was ascribed to bacteria in 235 (54.3%) children and to one or more viruses in 111 (25.6%) children. A total of 312 (72.2%) children had severe disease.
  
  
  RESULTS
  CRP and PCT had the best performances for both bacterial and viral CAP identification. The cut-off values with the highest combined sensitivity and specificity for the identification of bacterial and viral infections using CRP were ≥7.98 mg/L and ≤7.5 mg/L, respectively. When PCT was considered, the cut-off values with the highest combined sensitivity and specificity were ≥0.188 ng/mL for bacterial CAP and ≤0.07 ng/mL for viral CAP. For the identification of severe cases, the best results were obtained with evaluations of PCT and MR-proANP. However, in both cases, the biomarker cut-off with the highest combined sensitivity and specificity (≥0.093 ng/mL for PCT and ≥33.8 pmol/L for proANP) had a relatively good sensitivity (higher than 70%) but a limited specificity (of approximately 55%).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study indicates that in children with CAP, sTREM-1, MR-proANP, and MR-proADM blood levels have poor abilities to differentiate bacterial from viral diseases or to identify severe cases, highlighting that PCT maintains the main role at this regard.
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Susanna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Esposito
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, G. Cristina Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Di Gangi
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Unit, Giovanni XXIII Hospital, Bari, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cardinale
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Pulmonology Unit, Children's Hospital, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Eugenio
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Baraldi
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Emergency Unit, Policlinico Sant'Orsola, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
authors.forename: Ilaria
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Corsini
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Unit, Treviso Hospital, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
authors.forename: Liviana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Da Dalt
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Clinic, Regina Margherita Hospital, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
authors.forename: Pier Angelo
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tovo
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Unit, Santobono Hospital, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Correra
authors.affiliation: General Pediatrics and Infectious Diseases, IRCCS Bambino Gesù Hospital, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Villani
authors.affiliation: Pulmonology Unit, IRCCS Giannina Gaslini Hospital, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Oliviero
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Sacco
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Clinic, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tenero
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Infectious Diseases Unit, G. Cristina Hospital, Palermo, Italy.
authors.forename: Piera
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dones
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Monia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gambino
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Zampiero
authors.affiliation: Pediatric Highly Intensive Care Unit, Department of Pathophysiology and Transplantation, Università degli Studi di Milano, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico, Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicola
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Principi
mesh_terms: D053607:Adrenomedullin / Q000097:blood*; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D017714:Community-Acquired Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000209:etiology*; D003710:Demography; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000097:blood*; D011498:Protein Precursors / Q000097:blood*; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic / Q000097:blood*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D000073871:Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D011498:Protein Precursors; D011971:Receptors, Immunologic; C408842:TREM1 protein, human; D000073871:Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells-1; C088633:proadrenomedullin; D053607:Adrenomedullin; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor