Antagonistic sepsis markers: Serum gelsolin and actin/gelsolin ratio

Objectives For appropriate sepsis care, prognostic laboratory markers are mandatory. The aim of our study was to evaluate the predictive value of serum actin, gelsolin and the recently defined actin/gelsolin ratio during sepsis by comparison it to classical clinical and inflammatory laboratory parameters. Design & methods We analyzed sera of severe septic (n = 32) and SIRS (n = 12) patients for 5 days. Ophthalmologic patients (n = 27) served as controls. Besides serum actin, gelsolin and actin/gelsolin ratios classical laboratory parameters (WBC count, serum procalcitonin, hsCRP) and clinical scores (APACHE II, SAPS II, SOFA), were also assessed. Results Septic patients showed significantly decreased first-day gelsolin levels and increased actin/gelsolin ratios compared to SIRS patients (p