OBJECTIVESepsis is the major cause of death in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The clinical manifestations of early sepsis is very similar to systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) caused by non-infectious reason. This study aimed to investigate the expression of miRNA and inflammatory cytokines in plasma in pediatric sepsis patients and its clinical significance.

METHODForty children with sepsis seen in Shenzhen children's hospital PICU from April 2012 to March 2013 were enrolled in this study, the median age was 0.75 (0.52, 1.90) years; 27 were males and 13 females, of whom 16 had severe sepsis. We selected 20 postsurgical patients with SIRS and 15 healthy children as a control group. The expression levels of plasma miR-21, miR-125b, miR-132, miR-146a, miR-155 and miR-223 were detected by real-time quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR). The predictive value of miRNA, PCT and CRP for sepsis were evaluated by Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). TNF-α and IL-10 levels in plasma detected by Cytometric Beads Array (CBA). Quantitative data of normal distribution was compared with ANOVA among the three groups and LSD-t test between two groups. To non-normal distribution of data, multiple comparisons among three groups were conducted by Kruskal-Wallis H test and differences between two groups were assessed by Mann-Whitney U test for post hoc analysis.

RESULTThere were no significant differences between the age and gender of each group. Expression of miR-21, miR-125b, miR-132 and miR-155 in plasma had no significant difference in each group (all P > 0.05). MiR-146a and miR-223 levels in sepsis were upregulated compared with SIRS group and control group [(5.7 ± 3.5)×10(-5) vs. (2.4 ± 1.6)×10(-5) and (2.6 ± 1.2)×10(-5), (12.5 ± 7.7)×10(-4) vs. (8.3 ± 3.4)×10(-4) and (5.3 ± 2.2)×10(-4), all P < 0.01], expression levels of miR-223 in SIRS increased as compared to control group (P < 0.01). MiR-146a levels in severe sepsis were higher than those of the general sepsis [ (7.1 ± 3.3)×10(-5) vs. (4.6 ± 2.6)×10(-5), P < 0.01]. CRP and PCT levels are all higher in sepsis and SIRS groups than control group (all P < 0.01). The area under ROC curve (AUC) of miR-146a, miR-223, PCT and CRP to predict sepsis were 0.815 (95%CI: 0.708-0.922), 0.678(95%CI: 0.537-0.818), 0.706 (95%CI: 0.571-0.842) and 0.588 (95%CI: 0.427-0.748). Expression levels of IL-10 and IL-10/TNF-α in sepsis were upregulated compared with and SIRS group and the control group (all P < 0.01). There was a positive correlation between miR-146a, miR-223 and IL-10 and IL-10/TNF-α (r = 0.545, 0.305, 0.562, 0.373, all P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONThe expression levels of miR-146a and miR-223 in plasma in pediatric patients with sepsis was significantly upregulated, and had a positive correlation with IL-10 and IL-10/TNF-α, which may be used as early diagnostic markers and can reflect the severity of condition to a certain degree.