Defining immunological dysfunction in sepsis: A requisite tool for precision medicine

Immunological dysregulation is now recognised as a major pathogenic event in sepsis. Stimulation of immune response and immuno-modulation are emerging approaches for the treatment of this disease. Defining the underlying immunological alterations in sepsis is important for the design of future therapies with immuno-modulatory drugs.

Clinical studies evaluating the immunological response in adult patients with Sepsis and published in PubMed were reviewed to identify features of immunological dysfunction. For this study we used key words related with innate and adaptive immunity.

Ten major features of immunological dysfunction (FID) were identified involving quantitative and qualitative alterations of [antigen presentation](FID1), [T and B lymphocytes] (FID2), [natural killer cells] (FID3), [relative increase in T regulatory cells] (FID4), [increased expression of PD-1 and PD-ligand1](FID5), [low levels of immunoglobulins](FID6), [low circulating counts of neutrophils and/or increased immature forms in non survivors](FID7), [hyper-cytokinemia] (FID8), [complement consumption] (FID9), [defective bacterial killing by neutrophil extracellular traps](FID10).

This review article identified ten major features associated with immunosuppression and immunological dysregulation in sepsis. Assessment of these features could help in utilizing precision medicine for the treatment of sepsis with immuno-modulatory drugs.