[Association between cluster of differentiation 14 polymorphism and susceptibility of infection]

To investigate the association between the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of cluster of differentiation 14 (CD14) and susceptibility in patients with sepsis.

One hundred and twelve patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) from December 2004 to March 2006 were enrolled for study. Another 100 healthy volunteer donors were chosen serving as the normal control group. Genotypes and alleles of CD14-159 C/T, CD14-260 C/T were determined in patients and healthy controls by means of restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products. Distributional differences of genotypes and alleles between patients and healthy controls were analyzed. The sepsis patients were divided into survivor group and non-survivor group depending on survival for 28 days. Distributional differences of genotypes and alleles between survivor group and non-survivor group were determined.

The rates of CD14-159 C/T genotypes and T-alleles in patients with sepsis were significantly higher than those of healthy volunteers (P=0.005 and P=0.000). There were no significant differences in the rates of CD14-260 C/T genotypes and T-alleles in two groups (P=0.912 and P=0.706). The rates of CD14 -159 C/T genotypes and T-alleles in non-survivors were significantly higher than those of survivors (both P=0.000). There were no significant differences in the rates of CD14-260 C/T genotypes and T-alleles in two groups (P=0.643 and P=0.890).

The differences of CD14-159 C/T genotypes of SNPs may be associated with the higher risk of susceptibility and mortality of sepsis.