The Rheumatologist
COVID-19 News
  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed
  • Home
  • Conditions
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis
    • SLE (Lupus)
    • Crystal Arthritis
      • Gout Resource Center
    • Spondyloarthritis
    • Osteoarthritis
    • Soft Tissue Pain
    • Scleroderma
    • Vasculitis
    • Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes
    • Guidelines
  • Resource Centers
    • Axial Spondyloarthritis Resource Center
    • Gout Resource Center
    • Psoriatic Arthritis Resource Center
    • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
    • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
  • Drug Updates
    • Biologics & Biosimilars
    • DMARDs & Immunosuppressives
    • Topical Drugs
    • Analgesics
    • Safety
    • Pharma Co. News
  • Professional Topics
    • Ethics
    • Legal
    • Legislation & Advocacy
    • Career Development
      • Certification
      • Education & Training
    • Awards
    • Profiles
    • President’s Perspective
    • Rheuminations
    • Interprofessional Perspective
  • Practice Management
    • Billing/Coding
    • Quality Assurance/Improvement
    • Workforce
    • Facility
    • Patient Perspective
    • Electronic Health Records
    • Apps
    • Information Technology
    • From the College
    • Multimedia
      • Audio
      • Video
  • Resources
    • Issue Archives
    • ACR Convergence
      • Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Resource Center
      • Rheumatoid Arthritis Resource Center
      • Gout Resource Center
      • Abstracts
      • Meeting Reports
      • ACR Convergence Home
    • American College of Rheumatology
    • ACR ExamRheum
    • Research Reviews
    • ACR Journals
      • Arthritis & Rheumatology
      • Arthritis Care & Research
      • ACR Open Rheumatology
    • Rheumatology Image Library
    • Treatment Guidelines
    • Rheumatology Research Foundation
    • Events
  • About Us
    • Mission/Vision
    • Meet the Authors
    • Meet the Editors
    • Contribute to The Rheumatologist
    • Subscription
    • Contact
  • Advertise
  • Search
You are here: Home / Articles / Immune Response to Trauma May Flag Impending Organ Failure

Immune Response to Trauma May Flag Impending Organ Failure

July 18, 2017 • By David Douglas

  • Tweet
  • Email
Print-Friendly Version / Save PDF

NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Early immune response signatures in the critically injured may shed light on mechanisms underlying multiple organ system failure, according to U.K. investigators.

You Might Also Like
  • Strong Statistical Association Found Between Trauma and Lupus
  • 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Immune Mediators Can Impact Inflammatory Response
  • Innate Immune Response Enters Center Stage for Inflammatory Eye Disease

As Dr. Joanna M. Shepherd of Queen Mary University of London tells Reuters Health by email, “Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) is common after major trauma and it contributes to poor outcomes and death in many critically injured patients. Our research shows that key immune changes occur within the first few hours of injury that are associated with development of MODS.”

ad goes here:advert-1
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

“This hyperacute timeframe is usually very difficult to study because of the logistical challenges of doing research in the emergency setting,” Dr. Shepherd adds.

In a July 17 online paper in PLOS Medicine, Dr. Shepherd and colleagues note that such studies thus “tend to focus on patients later in their clinical course, after widespread inflammation has already been established and after patients have been subjected to further surgery, drugs, and transfusions.”1

ad goes here:advert-2
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

To help identify the early mechanisms “that then evolve into the full genomic storm,” the team studied critically ill patients in the hyperacute time period within two hours of injury, using whole blood transcriptome and flow cytometry analyses.

In 36 critically injured patients, the team examined 29,385 immune cell genes obtained within whole blood samples and compared these with samples taken at 24 and 72 hours following injury.

In 34 patients, the numbers of circulating immune cell populations were compared with those in healthy volunteers.

ad goes here:advert-3
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE

The researchers also compared the 20 critically injured patients who developed MODS with the 16 who did not, and with other patients with minor injuries.

Immediately after injury, only 1,239 gene transcripts (4%) were differentially expressed in critically injured patients compared to healthy volunteers. By 24 hours, this was true of 6,294 transcripts (21%) but only 202 (16%) genes differentially expressed in the hyperacute window were still expressed in the same direction at 24 hours postinjury.

Comparison of the MODS and non-MODS groups showed that 363 genes differed at admission but only 33 were expressed differentially in the MODS group at 24 hours and only 28 at 72 hours.

Thus, say the investigators, “The MODS signature is clearly set within the hyperacute window, and most of these genes either normalize or invert their levels of expression by 24 hours.”

Further analysis showed enrichment of gene pathways associated with cell death in the MODS group and implicated downregulation of neutrophils and upregulation of natural killer immune cells.

Pages: 1 2 | Single Page

Filed Under: Conditions, Systemic Inflammatory Syndromes Tagged With: inflammation, Multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), organ failure, systemic inflammation, trauma

You Might Also Like:
  • Strong Statistical Association Found Between Trauma and Lupus
  • 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting: Immune Mediators Can Impact Inflammatory Response
  • Innate Immune Response Enters Center Stage for Inflammatory Eye Disease
  • Innate Immune Response Predicts Development of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in Sjögren’s Syndrome

ACR Convergence

Don’t miss rheumatology’s premier scientific meeting for anyone involved in research or the delivery of rheumatologic care or services.

Visit the ACR Convergence site »

American College of Rheumatology

Visit the official website for the American College of Rheumatology.

Visit the ACR »

Simple Tasks

Learn more about the ACR’s public awareness campaign and how you can get involved. Help increase visibility of rheumatic diseases and decrease the number of people left untreated.

Visit the Simple Tasks site »

The Rheumatologist newsmagazine reports on issues and trends in the management and treatment of rheumatic diseases. The Rheumatologist reaches 11,500 rheumatologists, internists, orthopedic surgeons, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and other healthcare professionals who practice, research, or teach in the field of rheumatology.

About Us / Contact Us / Advertise / Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

  • Connect with us:
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Feed

Copyright © 2006–2022 American College of Rheumatology. All rights reserved.

ISSN 1931-3268 (print)
ISSN 1931-3209 (online)