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Murine Oropharyngeal Aspiration Model of Ventilator-associated and Hospital-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia
04:32

Murine Oropharyngeal Aspiration Model of Ventilator-associated and Hospital-acquired Bacterial Pneumonia

Published on: June 28, 2018

Preliminary evidence for leukocyte transcriptional signatures for pediatric ventilator-associated pneumonia

Jason A Werner1, William Schierding, David Dixon

  • 1The Department of Pediatrics, St. Louis University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. jwerner2@slu.edu

Journal of Intensive Care Medicine
|May 25, 2011
PubMed

Insights

Blood RNA expression profiles show promise for tracking ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in children. These preliminary findings suggest a detectable VAP signal in gene expression, warranting further investigation.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric critical care medicine
  • Molecular diagnostics
  • Genomics

Background:

  • Ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in pediatric intensive care units (ICUs).
  • Diagnosing VAP in children presents significant challenges.
  • Previous studies in adults suggested blood RNA expression profiles could aid in VAP detection.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the potential of blood RNA expression profiles for monitoring VAP response in children.
  • To determine if gene expression patterns can differentiate between ventilated children with and without VAP.

Main Methods:

  • A pilot, nonrandomized, repeated measures case-control study.
  • Analysis of blood RNA abundance in buffy coat samples from 7 mechanically ventilated children (1-18 months old).
  • Gene expression profiling using Affymetrix Human Genome Focus GeneChip and statistical analysis (ANOVA).

Main Results:

  • Expression patterns of 48 genes differentiated between children with and without VAP.
  • Gene expression network analysis identified pathways related to cell proliferation, differentiation, growth, and apoptosis.
  • Several novel genes implicated in sepsis were identified.

Conclusions:

  • Preliminary data support the hypothesis that a detectable VAP signal exists in blood gene expression profiles of critically ill children.
  • These findings are the first to demonstrate this in a pediatric population.
  • Larger studies are needed to validate these results and assess the diagnostic utility of longitudinal RNA signatures.
Abstract

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