A Prospective Cohort Protocol for the Remnant Investigation in Sepsis Study

Area of Science:

• Sepsis Pathophysiology
• Biorepository Science
• Mechanistic Research

Background:

• Sepsis causes over 11 million deaths annually, necessitating deeper understanding of host and pathogen roles.
• Current research often requires expensive biorepositories, limiting mechanistic studies.
• Remnant biospecimens offer a potential alternative for sepsis research, but their viability and value are unproven.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the scientific value of remnant biospecimens for mechanistic sepsis research.
• To assess the feasibility of using remnant biospecimens for multiomic analyses in sepsis.
• To compare the quality of data from remnant biospecimens with standard research-grade biospecimens.

Main Methods:

• Prospective cohort study of 225 adult patients with community-acquired sepsis (Sepsis-3 criteria).
• Collection and analysis of remnant biospecimens alongside paired research-grade biospecimens (plasma from various tubes).
• Evaluation of multiomic readouts (proteins, small molecules, lipids, pathogen sequencing) for precision, accuracy, integrity, and comparability.

Main Results:

• The study is ongoing with recruitment initiated in October 2022.
• Primary results are anticipated in 2024.
• Data will be analyzed to assess the scientific utility of remnant biospecimens.

Conclusions:

• The use of remnant biospecimens in sepsis research is being rigorously evaluated.
• Findings are expected to inform the use of these valuable resources for future mechanistic studies.
• Results will be publicly disseminated to advance sepsis research and clinical practice.