Thrombomodulin as a Potentially Complementing Diagnostic Tool in Non-Pneumonic Bacterial Infections.

Area of Science:

• Biomarker discovery
• Endothelial injury
• Infectious disease diagnostics

Background:

• Soluble thrombomodulin (TM) is a potential marker for endothelial injury.
• TM has been investigated for diagnosing severe pneumococcal community-acquired pneumonia (CAP).
• Validating TM could aid patient stratification and biomarker-guided therapy.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate serum TM levels as a marker for disease severity and origin in acute infections.
• To determine if TM can differentiate pneumococcal CAP from other infections.
• To assess the association between TM levels and disease severity scores.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective study of 80 patients with suspected acute infections.
• Serum TM concentrations were measured.
• Patients were categorized into groups: pneumococcal CAP, non-pneumococcal CAP, other bacterial infections, viral pneumonia, and controls.

Main Results:

• TM levels did not differ between CAP patients and controls or other bacterial infections.
• Highest TM concentrations were found in patients with bacterial infections without pneumonia.
• TM levels correlated with moderate severity (NEWS2 5-6) in non-pneumonic bacterial infections, not CAP severity.

Conclusions:

• Serum TM is elevated in bacterial non-pneumonic infections.
• TM is not a specific marker for pneumococcal CAP in this cohort.
• TM may reflect systemic endothelial injury in severe bacterial infections, especially non-pneumonic ones.