Citation

Hacker S, Dieplinger B, Werba G, Nickl S, Roth GA, Krenn CG, Mueller T, Ankersmit HJ, Haider T. Clin. Chem. Lab. Med. 2018; 56(12): 2079-2087.

Affiliation

Department of Orthopedics and Trauma Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Walter de Gruyter)

DOI

10.1515/cclm-2018-0042

PMID

29949506

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Large burn injuries induce a systemic response in affected patients. Soluble ST2 (sST2) acts as a decoy receptor for interleukin-33 (IL-33) and has immunosuppressive effects. sST2 has been described previously as a prognostic serum marker. Our aim was to evaluate serum concentrations of sST2 and IL-33 after thermal injury and elucidate whether sST2 is associated with mortality in these patients.

METHODS: We included 32 burn patients (total body surface area [TBSA] >10%) admitted to our burn intensive care unit and compared them to eight healthy probands. Serum concentrations of sST2 and IL-33 were measured serially using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) technique.

RESULTS: The mean TBSA was 32.5%±19.6%. Six patients (18.8%) died during the hospital stay. Serum analyses showed significantly increased concentrations of sST2 and reduced concentrations of IL-33 in burn patients compared to healthy controls. In our study cohort, higher serum concentrations of sST2 were a strong independent predictor of mortality.

CONCLUSIONS: Burn injuries cause an increment of sST2 serum concentrations with a concomitant reduction of IL-33. Higher concentrations of sST2 are associated with increased in-hospital mortality in burn patients.

Language: en

Keywords

ST2; burn injury; burn trauma; interleukin-33; mortality; sST2