Mortality at 180‐days is affected by serum haptoglobin levels in septic patients with high magnitude serum high mobility group box‐1 levels

Abstract

Aim High mobility group box‐1 (HMGB1) is a lethal mediator of sepsis that binds to haptoglobin (Hp) and is associated with its prognosis. We investigated the effect of the combination of HMGB1 and Hp on sepsis prognosis. Methods This single‐center, retrospective study registered 78 patients with sepsis according to Sepsis‐3 criteria on day 1 of diagnosis from July 2016 to November 2018. We divided the patients into four groups according to the serum concentration of 6.2 ng/mL HMGB1 and the median value of Hp. The 180‐day mortality rates and cytokine concentrations of the low and high HMGB1 groups were compared. Results There was no difference in the 180‐day mortality rate between the low Hp group and the high Hp group in the low HMGB1 group (P = 0.691). In the high HMGB1 group, a statistically significant difference was found between the low Hp group and the high Hp group (P = 0.002). In the high HMGB1 group, high Hp was associated with a better prognosis in univariate analysis (odds ratio, 0.131; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.027–0.629; P = 0.011), and multivariate analysis (adjusted odds ratio, 0.086; 95% CI, 0.013–0.582; P = 0.009). In addition, in the high HMGB1 group, interleukin‐8 levels were significantly higher in the low Hp group than in the high Hp group (P = 0.004). Conclusion Patients with sepsis‐induced high serum HMGB1 levels and low serum Hp levels could have a poor long‐term prognosis.

Keywords

• Cytokine
• haptoglobin
• HMGB1 protein
• prognosis
• sepsis