Hamostaseologie
DOI: 10.1055/a-2202-8544
Review Article

Inflammation, Sepsis, and the Coagulation System

János Kappelmayer
1   Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
,
Ildikó Beke Debreceni
1   Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
,
Zsolt Fejes
1   Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
,
Béla Nagy Jr.
1   Department of Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
› Author Affiliations
Funding This study was supported by an OTKA grant (FK 135327) to B.N. Jr. Z.F. was supported by the ÚNKP-22–4-II-DE-120 New National Excellence Program.

Abstract

Sepsis has been a major health problem for centuries and it is still the leading cause of hospital deaths. Several studies in the past decades have identified numerous biochemical abnormalities in severe cases, and many of these studies provide evidence of the perturbation of the hemostatic system. This can result in complications, such as disseminated intravascular coagulation that can lead to multiorgan failure. Nevertheless, large clinical studies have demonstrated that the simple approach of inhibiting the coagulation processes by any means fails to provide significant improvement in the survival of septic patients. A cause of this failure could be the fact that in sepsis the major clinical problems result not primarily from the presence of the infective agent or enhanced coagulation but from the complex dysregulated systemic host response to pathogens. If this overt reaction is not fully deciphered, appropriate interference is highly unlikely and any improvement by conventional therapeutic interventions would be limited. Cellular activation in sepsis can be targeted by novel approaches like inhibition of the heterotypic cellular interactions of blood cells by targeting surface receptors or posttranscriptional control of the hemostatic system by noncoding ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules. Stable RNA molecules can affect the expression of several proteins. Thus, it can be anticipated that modulation of microRNA production would result in a multitude of effects that may be beneficial in septic cases. Here, we highlight some of the recent diagnostic possibilities and potential novel routes of the dysregulated host response.

Author Contributions

J.K. supervised a part of the study and wrote the manuscript. I.B.D. set up laboratory assays regarding thrombin generation and performed experiments. Z.F. performed microRNA measurements and other laboratory tests. B.N. Jr. provided ideas for experiments, supervised a part of the sepsis studies, and critically reviewed this manuscript.




Publication History

Received: 30 October 2023

Accepted: 21 December 2023

Article published online:
14 February 2024

© 2024. Thieme. All rights reserved.

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 
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