Infection is the leading cause of death in patients with serious burns, but researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston have identified factors that can predict infection risk in patients with serious burns, which could lead to better burn treatment.
"Our approach is the first to enable the prediction of repeat infections days or even weeks before they occur," said Laurence Rahme, PhD, director of MGH's Molecular Surgical Laboratory and senior author of the study published in Annals of Surgery. "The ability to predict infection would allow more effective prevention and treatment, help stem the emergence of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, and reduce the costs of care."
Researchers analyzed data from patients in the Inflammation and the Host Response to Injury program who had burns on more than 20 percent of their bodies. They looked closely at 113 adult patients who had gene expression data collected from them within a week of their injury. Specifically, they looked at clinical and gene expression pattern differences between 66 patients who had two or more infection episodes and 47 with one or no infections.
They found factors like age, the extent of burn injury and lung injury from smoke inhalation can help predict multiple infections. Additionally, they found that a biomarker model based on differences in gene expression also correctly forecasted infection susceptibility of over 80 percent of patients. Specifically, expression of genes involved with immune response, metabolism and epigenetic functions were significantly different in patients who had multiple infection episodes.
"Using genomic signatures to understanding why some patients are more susceptible to infection may allow the design of novel, personalized therapies," said Shuangchun Yan, PhD, from the MGH Department of Surgery and author of the study.