Objective: Recent data suggest that soluble CD40L (sCD40L) plays an important role in murine sepsis. The aim of the present study was to determine plasma levels of CD40L in critically ill patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and shock, with and without sepsis.
Design: A prospective observational one-centre cohort study in a mixed-bed ICU of an university hospital. Fifty-three consecutive patients fulfilling the criteria for SIRS with shock as well as seven age-matched controls were included. ELISA was used to determine sCD40L in the plasma.
Results: The level of sCD40L in plasma from healthy controls was 0.18 ± 0.03 ng/ml. It was found that sCD40L levels were significantly higher in patients with non-septic shock (0.72 ± 0.18 ng/ml) and septic shock (0.50 ± 0.1 ng/ml). However, the levels of sCD40L were not different between these two groups of patients, or in those with low and high APACHE scores.
Conclusion: Our data show that sCD40L is increased in patients with shock from septic and non-septic etiologies. However, further studies are needed to delineate the functional significance of sCD40L in the clinical outcome in shock patients.