Sepsis is the most common cause of death in the clinical critically ill patients. We have successfully screened the sepsis biomarkers by clinical proteomics approach and found that Vimentin (VIM) played an important role in the occurrence and development of sepsis. However, the exact mechanism is remaining unclear. In this study, the relationship between the changes of peripheral circulation VIM expression and different stages of sepsis development will be further verified in lager clinical trials, as well as the relationship between VIM expression and apoptosis of immune cells (e.g lymphocytes) will also be clarified. This may indicate that the role of VIM in the cell-mediated immunity apoptosis and inflammation-related pathways. Through the implementation of this study, we can clarify the clinical value of VIM and the mechanism of VIM-mediated immune cell apoptosis during the sepsis development from the molecular level, and determine whether the VIM as a new target for sepsis diagnosis and treatment.

Inclusion Criteria:

Sepsis 3.0 was adopted to selected participants

Exclusion Criteria:

Participants were excluded if they were younger than 18 years of age; contracted acquired immunodeficiency syndrome; had reduced polymorphonuclear granulocyte counts (<500 μL-1); died within 24 h after admission to the ICU; refused to participate in the study; or declined treatment during the period of observation.

Between july 2016 and december 2017, inpatients were included who were in the Department of critical care medicine of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital.