Secondary infection project

Severe infectious diseases, including sepsis, severe sepsis, and septic shock, remain a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although the intensive care system has considerably improved over the last decades, a recent European study revealed that severe complications from infectious diseases constitute a life-threatening medical emergency and it has been estimated that more patients currently die from these complications than from lung or breast cancer. Notably, early institution of adequate antibiotic therapy and intravenous fluid resuscitation has a great impact on the mortality. Thus, for every hour that proper treatment is delayed, the mortality increases by 7.5%.It is an emerging clinical problem that patients surviving the early phase of sepsis, are not able to eradicate the primary infection. This group of patients is at great risk to die from subsequent secondary nosocomial infections because their hyper-inflammatory state may lead to an immunosuppressive condition and a subsequent impaired immune response. We will collect plasma samples from patients with secondary sepsis. These samples will be analyzed by mass spectroscopic methods (targeted proteomics) with a special focus on inflammatory mediators and immunomodulatory proteins. Once interesting targets have been identified we will employ animal models of secondary infection and test whether the substitution with or inhibition of these proteins can modify the progression of the disease.