Abstract
The state of immune activation may guide targeted immunotherapy in sepsis. In a double-blind, double-dummy randomized clinical study, 240 patients with sepsis due to lung infection, bacteremia, or acute cholangitis were subjected to measurements of serum ferritin and HLA-DR/CD14. Patients with macrophage activation-like syndrome (MALS) or immunoparalysis were randomized to treatment with anakinra or recombinant interferon-gamma or placebo. Twenty-eight-day mortality was the primary endpoint; sepsis immune classification was the secondary endpoint. Using ferritin >4,420 ng/mL and <5,000 HLA-DR receptors/monocytes as biomarkers, patients were classified into MALS (20.0%), immunoparalysis (42.9%), and intermediate (37.1%). Mortality was 79.1%, 66.9%, and 41.6%, respectively. Survival after 7 days with SOFA score decrease was achieved in 42.9% of patients of the immunotherapy arm and 10.0% of the placebo arm (p = 0.042). Three independent immune classification strata are recognized in sepsis. MALS and immunoparalysis are proposed as stratification for personalized adjuvant immunotherapy. Clinicaltrials.gov registration NCT03332225.