Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 28, 2026

Assessing Respiratory Immune Responses to Haemophilus Influenzae
Published on: June 29, 2021
Inflammatory biomarkers associated with infection-related type I acute respiratory failure
Kairui Ren1, Jiatong Xu1, Ya Wang1
1Emergency Department, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Critical and Emergency Pharmaceuticals & Medical Devices Innovation Lab, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College & Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China.
Background:
Acute respiratory failure (ARF) is a heterogeneous syndrome in which early differentiation between infection-related and non-infection-related etiologies remains challenging. This study aimed to characterize the inflammatory profile of type I ARF and identify candidate biomarkers associated with the infection-related type I ARF.
Methods:
In this prospective observational cohort study, 98 patients with type I ARF and 30 healthy controls were enrolled. The plasma levels of 92 inflammation-related proteins were measured using the Olink Inflammation Panels. Type I ARF-associated biomarkers were first identified by comparing type I ARF patients with healthy controls, followed by the identification of infection-related biomarkers within the type I ARF cohort. False discovery rate correction and random forest-based feature ranking were applied.
Results:
Compared with non-infection-related type I ARF (NonInf-ARF), infection-related type I ARF (Inf-ARF) was associated with a higher incidence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and greater use of advanced life-support therapies. A comparison with healthy controls identified 64 significantly dysregulated biomarkers, representing the inflammatory features of type I ARF. Twenty of the 64 type I ARF-associated biomarkers remained significantly different between the Inf-ARF and NonInf-ARF groups (q<0.05). Neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), interleukin-18 receptor 1 (IL-18R1), interleukin-18 (IL-18), and C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 10 (CXCL10) consistently ranked among the top features across the different analytical methods.
Conclusion:
NT-3, IL-18R1, IL-18, and CXCL10 were identified as candidate biomarkers associated with the Inf-ARF, which may provide additional information for early etiologic stratification.
Related Concept Videos
Acute Inflammation I: Inflammatory Response
Acute Inflammation III: Local and Systemic Effects
Acute Respiratory Failure-I
Definition: It is defined by specific criteria based on blood gas measurements. Hypoxemia happens when the partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) falls below 60 mmHg. At the same time,...
Acute Inflammation II: Cellular Phase
Acute Respiratory Failure-II
The underlying physiological abnormalities that contribute to hypoxemic respiratory failure include:
Acute Respiratory Failure-IV