Hyaluronan turnover in relation to infection and sepsis

Sepsis is a major clinical problem in intensive care. The mortality in septic shock is high, and predominantly due to cardiovascular collapse and multiple organ dysfunction. In sepsis high levels of circulating hyaluronan have been found, correlating to disease severity and prognosis. The reason behind the increased levels could be both decreased hepatic uptake and increased peripheral synthesis. Thus, plasma hyaluronan may be a clinically useful marker of hepatic dysfunction and possibly also an indicator of the increased inflammatory and reparative activity in different organs in septic conditions.