[Advances in immunotherapeutic research of sepsis]

Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by dysregulated host responses to infection. Despite decades of research, it remains the leading cause of death in intensive care units (ICUs). None of the current treatment, including antibiotics, organ protection and liquid resuscitation, is specifically effective for sepsis. Immunosuppression is one of the currently accepted pathogenesis and immunotherapy is one of the hot spot of current sepsis research. Immune related treatments include restricting the release of pathogen toxin and its removal, controlling the excessive inflammatory reaction and apoptosis inhibition, etc. Numerous pre-clinical studies using immunomodulatory agents such as interleukin-7 (IL-7), anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibody and others, have demonstrated reversal of T cell dysfunction and improved survival resulting from reviewing recent advances in immunotherapy of sepsis. Therefore, immunotherapy may be a new way of sepsis treatment.