Copeptin as a diagnostic biomarker for sepsis-related deaths

•Copeptin is measurable in postmortem serum collected during autopsy.•Copeptin values are increased in sepsis-related deaths.•Postmortem serum copeptin levels correlate with PCT, CRP and IL-6. Copeptin has been shown to increase in patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. In the study h...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Peptides (New York, N.Y. : 1980) N.Y. : 1980), 2014-09, Vol.59, p.75-78
Main Authors: Palmiere, Cristian, Augsburger, Marc
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Autopsy
Biomarkers - analysis
Copeptin
Female
Glycopeptides - analysis
Hospital Mortality
Humans
Male
Middle Aged
Postmortem biochemistry
Prospective Studies
Sepsis
Shock, Septic - diagnosis
Shock, Septic - metabolism
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Summary:•Copeptin is measurable in postmortem serum collected during autopsy.•Copeptin values are increased in sepsis-related deaths.•Postmortem serum copeptin levels correlate with PCT, CRP and IL-6. Copeptin has been shown to increase in patients with sepsis, severe sepsis and septic shock. In the study herein described, copeptin was measured in a series of sepsis-related fatalities and control cases that underwent medico-legal investigations. No age-dependent differences in copeptin levels in either sepsis or control cases were observed. No correlation between copeptin concentrations and postmortem interval was identified in either group. Copeptin levels were significantly higher in sepsis cases. Moreover, copeptin concentrations in septic cases correlated with procalcitonin, C-reactive protein and interleukin 6 values. These preliminary findings seem to indicate that copeptin can be reliably measured in biological samples collected during postmortem investigations. These results also suggest that hemodynamic instability associated with sepsis and septic shock can be characterized by copeptin measurement also in the forensic casework.
ISSN:0196-9781
1873-5169
DOI:10.1016/j.peptides.2014.07.011