Sepsis-related
multiple organ dysfunction syndrome is a leading cause of death in intensive care units. There is overwhelming evidence that oxidative stress plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of
sepsis-associated
multiple organ failure; however,
reactive oxygen species (ROS)-associated
biomarkers and/or diagnostics that define mortality or predict survival in
sepsis are lacking. Lung or peripheral blood gene expression analysis has gained increasing recognition as a potential prognostic and/or diagnostic tool. The objective of this study was to identify ROS-associated
biomarkers predictive of survival in patients with
sepsis. In-silico analyses of expression profiles allowed the identification of a 21-gene ROS-associated molecular signature that predicts survival in
sepsis patients. Importantly, this signature performed well in a validation cohort consisting of
sepsis patients aggregated from distinct patient populations recruited from different sites. Our signature outperforms randomly generated signatures of the same signature gene size. Our findings further validate the critical role of ROSs in the pathogenesis of
sepsis and provide a novel gene signature that predicts survival in
sepsis patients. These results also highlight the utility of peripheral blood molecular signatures as
biomarkers for predicting mortality risk in patients with
sepsis, which could facilitate the development of personalized
therapies.