Neonatal sepsis remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality especially in the preterm infant population. The ability to promptly and accurately diagnose
neonatal sepsis based on clinical evaluation and laboratory blood tests remains challenging. Advances in high-throughput molecular technologies have increased investigations into the utility of transcriptomic, proteomic and metabolomic approaches as diagnostic tools for
neonatal sepsis. A systems-level understanding of
neonatal sepsis, obtained by using omics-based technologies (at the transcriptome,
proteome or metabolome level), may lead to new diagnostic tools for
neonatal sepsis. In particular, recent omic-based studies have identified distinct transcriptional signatures and metabolic or proteomic
biomarkers associated with
sepsis. Despite the emerging need for a systems biology approach, future studies have to address the challenges of integrating multi-omic data with laboratory and clinical meta-data in order to translate outcomes into
precision medicine for
neonatal sepsis. Omics-based analytical approaches may advance diagnostic tools for
neonatal sepsis. More research is needed to validate the recent systems biology findings in order to integrate multi-dimensional data (clinical, laboratory and multi-omic) for future translation into
precision medicine for
neonatal sepsis. This review will discuss the possible applications of omics-based analyses for identification of new
biomarkers and diagnostic signatures for
neonatal sepsis, focusing on the immune-compromised preterm infant and considerations for clinical translation.