Assessment of Apoptosis Inhibitor of Macrophage/CD5L as a Biomarker to Predict Mortality in the Critically Ill With Sepsis.

BACKGROUND

To determine the utility of apoptosis inhibitor of macrophage (AIM)/CD5L as a potentially novel biomarker of morbidity and mortality in patients with sepsis who are critically ill.

METHODS

There were 150 adult patients with sepsis studied. Serum AIM levels on day of ICU admission were determined and compared with survival status and organ dysfunction. For validation, 60 adult patients with sepsis from another medical center were studied. Furthermore, the role of AIM as an outcome predictor in 51 pediatric patients with sepsis was investigated.

RESULTS

In the derivation cohort of adult patients, patients with sepsis had markedly increased admission levels of serum AIM compared with ICU control subjects and healthy control subjects. Higher serum AIM levels at admission were significantly associated with higher Sequential (sepsis-related) Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) scores. On day of ICU admission, the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) for AIM level association with 28-day mortality was 0.86, higher than the AUC for SOFA (0.77), procalcitonin (0.73), lactate (0.67), IL-27 (0.65), and C-reactive protein (0.55). Patients with sepsis with higher admission levels of AIM (> 543.66 ng/mL) had significantly increased 28-day mortality compared with those with lower AIM levels (≤ 543.66 ng/mL). The association between admission levels of AIM and 28-day mortality was confirmed in the validation cohort of adult patients. In another cohort of pediatric patients with sepsis, the AUC for AIM level association with 28-day mortality was 0.82.

CONCLUSIONS

Circulating AIM levels at admission were markedly increased in patients with sepsis, which can serve as a novel prognostic biomarker for predicting mortality.