Sepsis occurs when an infection induces a dysregulated immune response, and is most commonly bacterial in origin. This condition requires rapid treatment for successful patient outcomes. However, the current method to confirm infection (blood culture) requires up to 48 h for a positive result and many true cases remain culture-negative. Therefore, new diagnostic tests are urgently needed. Recent clinical studies suggest that CD69, CD64 and CD25 may serve as useful biomarkers of sepsis. In this study, we evaluated the cecal ligation and puncture (CLP) and cecal slurry (CS) mouse models as tools to study these biomarkers in young and aged mice, and elucidate the timeliness and specificity of sepsis diagnosis. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis revealed that all three biomarkers were elevated on blood leukocytes during sepsis. CD69 was specifically upregulated during sepsis, while CD64 and CD25 were also transiently upregulated in response to sham surgery. The optimal biomarker, or combination of biomarkers, depended on the timing of detection, mouse age and presence of surgery. CD69 demonstrated an excellent capacity to distinguish sepsis, and in some scenarios the diagnostic performance was enhanced by combining CD69 with CD64. We also analyzed biomarker expression levels on specific cell populations (lymphocytes, monocytes and neutrophils) and determined the cell types that upregulate each biomarker. Elevations in blood biomarkers were also detected via microfluidic analyses; in this case CD64 distinguished septic mice from naïve controls. Our results suggest that CD69 and CD64 are valuable biomarkers to rapidly detect sepsis, and that mouse models are useful to study and validate sepsis biomarkers.

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