Objective: To determine the clinical relevance and prognostic significance of serial measurement of inter-alpha inhibitor proteins (IalphaIp) in severely septic patients.
Design: A laboratory-based study of serial plasma samples over the first 5 days of severe sepsis from a prospective clinical trial.
Setting: Small business and academic medical center research laboratories.
Patients: Two hundred sixty-six patients with severe sepsis from a multiple-center phase III clinical trial.
Interventions: None.
Measurements and main results: Inter-alpha inhibitor proteins serve as endogenous serine protease inhibitors in human plasma. The levels of IalphaIp were markedly reduced to a mean value of 290+/-15 microg/mL at the onset of severe sepsis compared with normal plasma levels (617+/-197 microg/mL). Failure of IalphaIp levels to recover over the first 5 days of sepsis was associated with an unfavorable outcome (p<.001). IalphaIp levels were inversely correlated with interleukin-6 levels at study entry and over the first 5 days of management of severe sepsis. IalphaIp levels were significantly lower in women, with increased age, in the presence of multiple organ failure and in patients with intra-abdominal sources of sepsis.
Conclusions: Inter-alpha inhibitor proteins are markedly reduced in severe sepsis, and failure of recovery of IalphaIp levels over the course of sepsis is associated with an unfavorable outcome.