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. 2023 Sep;51(9):3000605231202139.
doi: 10.1177/03000605231202139.

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α is a biomarker for predicting patients with sepsis

Zewen Tong  1 , Guangjian Wang  1 , Wei Huang  2 , Hongmin Zhang  1 , Fang Xie  3 , Xiaoting Wang  1
Affiliations

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α is a biomarker for predicting patients with sepsis

Zewen Tong et al. J Int Med Res. 2023 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the potential value of serum hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) concentrations as a biomarker in patients with sepsis.

Methods: The enrolled patients were divided into the following four groups: the intensive care unit (ICU) control group (n = 33), infection group (n = 29), septic nonshock group (n = 40), and septic shock group (n = 94). An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay was used to measure serum HIF-1α concentrations on ICU admission. Clinical parameters and laboratory test results were also collected.

Results: Serum HIF-1α concentrations were significantly higher in the infection group, septic nonshock group, and septic shock group than in the ICU control group. Moreover, HIF-1α concentrations were associated with a better predictive ability for diagnosing sepsis than the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score, procalcitonin concentrations, and lactate concentrations. Patients with sepsis and HIF-1α concentrations >161.14 pg/mL had a poor prognosis.

Conclusions: Serum HIF-1α concentrations are a useful biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis and predicting the prognosis of patients.

Keywords: Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II; Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; biomarker; intensive care unit; lactate; sepsis; septic shock.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flowchart of screening patients in the study.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Serum HIF-1α concentrations in each group of patients. HIF-1α concentrations were significantly increased sequentially in the ICU control group, infection group, and septic nonshock group or septic shock group. There was no significant difference in HIF-1α concentrations between the septic nonshock and septic shock groups. *P < 0.05 compared with the ICU control group; #P < 0.05 compared with the infection group; @P < 0.05 compared with the septic nonshock group. HIF-1α, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; ICU, intensive care unit.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
ROC curves show that serum HIF-1α concentrations have a better diagnostic value than the APACHE II score, PCT, and lactate ROC, receiver operating characteristic; PCT, procalcitonin; Lac, lactate; SOFA, Sequential Organ Failure Assessment; HIF-1α, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α; APACHE-II, Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Kaplan–Meier survival curves show that patients with sepsis and those with septic shock with serum HIF-1α concentrations >142.42 pg/mL have a significantly poor prognosis HIF-1α, hypoxia-inducible factor-1α.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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