We investigated plasma mtDNA levels in ED patients admitted with sepsis or septic shock, which were significantly higher in the septic shock group and correlated with the SOFA score and sepsis 28-d mortality. Moreover, the mtDNA levels showed superior prognostic prediction value than that of lactate levels.
Based on the sepsis 3.0 definition, a poor prognosis of sepsis is associated with organ injury, which is in line with the positive correlation of plasma mtDNA levels and severity of illness or SOFA score, even after controlling for potential confounders. We chose to focus our study on the level of free mtDNA in the plasma based on the observations by Zhang et al.[11] suggesting that mtDNA directly induces inflammation due to homology with pathogen-associated molecular patterns, thus acting as a DAMP. Our results are also consistent with those of Nakahira et al.[14] who conducted one of the first clinical trials on this topic in 2013, demonstrating significantly higher mtDNA levels in patients who died within 28 days of ICU admission than those of the survivors.
Moreover, mtDNA has been shown to improve risk prediction compared to that of commonly measured biomarkers such as lactate and PCT. In 2015, Bhagirath et al.[17] published a translational study aimed at elucidating the role of nuclear DNA (nucDNA), mtDNA, and bacterial DNA in sepsis. They showed that the levels of plasma nucDNA and mtDNA were 200- and 50-fold greater in the patients with sepsis than those of healthy controls, respectively. Timmermans et al.[18] conducted a prospective observational study by collecting samples from 121 septic shock patients in the ICU on day 1, 3, 5, 6, 9, 14, 21, and 28, demonstrating that the levels of nucDNA and mtDNA were significantly elevated and remained elevated at all time points relative to those of healthy controls. Nevertheless nucDNA, but not mtDNA, levels were associated with mortality from septic shock, which is inconsistent with our findings. We speculate that these differences are due to variations in the study population and diagnostic criteria between studies. Kung et al.[19] demonstrated that both plasma nucDNA and mtDNA concentrations on admission were significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors, and both levels increased shortly after severe infection and then gradually decreased after antimicrobial therapy. Moreover, the nucDNA levels were significantly higher than the mtDNA levels for the same group. In a recent study, Yang et al.[20] indicated that the relative mononuclear cell mtDNA copy number in non-survivors was significantly lower than that of survivors, which was also an important predictor of clinical outcome, as patients with low copy numbers had higher 28-d mortality rates. This suggests that the nucDNA was first elevated in the initial stages of sepsis, accompanied by a depletion of mtDNA copy numbers, followed by the release of mtDNA in the plasma becoming DNA fragments, or mtDNA DAMPs, which are associated with the susceptibility and pathogenesis of sepsis-associated organ injury.[21,22] The potential contribution of mtDNA DAMPs to organ injury is also supported by persuasive evidence from cell culture and animal models in which administration of exogenous mtDNA fragments or prevention of their accumulation had concordant effects on cytotoxicity, cellular dysfunction, and tissue inflammation.[23–27,11]
Innocenti et al.[28] demonstrated that higher lactate levels and decreased clearance were associated with increased short-term and intermediate-term mortality in patients with sepsis, regardless of the presence of shock. Timmermans et al.[18]also suggested that the plasma mtDNA level on admission was a more powerful predictor than lactate concentration, which is more commonly used for outcome prediction in clinical practice. This conclusion is consistent with our present findings. Therefore, we hypothesized that the plasma mtDNA might become elevated at an earlier stage than serum lactate; however, further prospective study is needed to verify this possibility.
One of the most interesting observations of the present study was the lack of significant correlations between plasma mtDNA levels and CRP or PCT, which may indicate that the mechanism or original source contributing to the release of mtDNA DAMPs is different from that contributing to the inflammatory biochemical index. Thus, the assessment of plasma mtDNA DAMP levels may help to complement CRP and PCT as biomarkers in the prediction of infectious complications related to sepsis.
Limitations
Several limitations of the study deserve consideration. First, we only measured plasma levels on admission in the ED and did not measure levels serially, and therefore could not assess the variation of these levels in the ICU or over time. Second, large-scale prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the prognostic contribution of plasma DNA on clinical outcomes. Third, we did not measure intracellular mtDNA levels, and thus cannot extrapolate these findings to the variation in cellular mtDNA content. Finally, we did not examine the mtDNA levels of healthy controls for comparison owing to limitations of funding and ethical considerations.