The following is a summary of “Monocyte state 1 (MS1) cells in critically ill patients with sepsis or non-infectious conditions: association with disease course and host response,” published in the March 2024 issue of Critical Care by Leite et al.
Researchers started a retrospective study investigating how Monocyte state 1” (MS1) cell characteristics relate to initial disease presentation, patient outcomes, and the body’s overall immune response in sepsis.
They utilized the transcriptome deconvolution method (CIBERSORTx) to assess the proportion of MS1 cells from blood RNA profiles of patients with sepsis in the ICU. A comparison was made between ICU patients who lack infection and those who lack healthy controls. Host response dysregulation was further investigated through gene co-expression network and gene set enrichment analyses of blood leukocytes, along with measuring 15 plasma biomarkers indicative of pathways involved in sepsis pathogenesis.
The results showed that sepsis patients (n = 332) were categorized into three equally sized groups based on their MS1 cell levels (low, intermediate, and high). No differences were observed in demographics or comorbidities among the MS1 groups. However, the intermediate and high MS1 groups displayed higher disease severity and were more prone to shock. MS1 cell abundance remained consistent irrespective of survival status or secondary infection acquisition. Elevated MS1 cell percentages correlated with reduced lymphocyte and interferon response gene activity in blood leukocytes, alongside increased inflammatory pathways like tumor necrosis factor signaling via nuclear factor-κB.Different MS1 cell abundances were observed among previously described sepsis host response transcriptomic subtypes, and MS1 cell percentages positively correlated with “quantitative sepsis response signature” and “molecular degree of perturbation” scores. Plasma biomarker levels, indicating inflammation, endothelial cell activation, and coagulation activation, showed no significant differences between MS1 groups. In 215 ICU patients without infection, MS1 cell percentages mirrored those in sepsis patients, showing similar associations.
Investigators linked high MS1 cells to worse illness and shock in critical illness, suggesting broad immune dysfunction.
Source: ccforum.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13054-024-04868-5