Sepsis has a high mortality rate worldwide, is a major factor affecting global health, and is one of the important causes of death and healthcare costs in modern ICU. About 60% of patients with sepsis will develop septic acute kidney injury (SAKI), and the mortality rate is significantly higher than that of non-SAKI patients with sepsis. To improve clinical outcomes for patients with sepsis and its SAKI, it is critical to identify risk factors associated with the disease that can be used to identify potential therapeutic agents to control sepsis and its SAKI.
In this proposal, we will analyze a large amount of data from the UK Biobank on patients with sepsis related volunteers, specifically, we will select subjects who have experienced sepsis (sepsis cases), sepsis AKI(AKI control group), and no major health problems (healthy control group). To determine the differences in clinical, health, environmental, and socioeconomic characteristics of these subjects, we can next look at the complex array of molecules (such as proteins and metabolites) in blood and urine to determine whether blood – and urine-based biochemical substances can be used to predict disease development or current status. We will also look for features in the genome that are associated with disease in UK Biobank volunteers.
Some of the questions we will explore include: – Can the risk factors for sepsis development be fully resolved through multi-omics (metabolomics, proteomics, and genomics) and can the onset or progression of sepsis be improved by intervening with these risk factors? – Are there relevant biomarkers that predict sepsis to develop into septic AKI? – What other genetic variants or biomarkers may affect the survival of patients with sepsis and septic AKI? The project’s findings could lead to new treatments for sepsis and SAKI and reduce the number of deaths caused by these diseases. We expect this study to take approximately 3 years to complete and to publish multiple results in journals.
