Improvement in understanding of potential mechanism and immunomodulatory strategy for sepsis

Sepsis is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in critically ill patients in intensive care u-nits, increasing data have revealed significance of immune function disorder in sepsis and septic shock. With the development of sepsis,a phase of immune suppression could be evident in both clinical as well as animal studies,showing remarkable reduction in lymphocytic reproductive activity and predominant Th2 immune response. Sepsis causes a marked apoptosis-induced depletion of lymphocytes and a series of nonspecific immunity functional impairment. These changes may compromise the ability of the patient to eradicate the primary infection and predispose to secondary nosocomial infections. Recent study indicates dendritic cells and regulatory T cells respond to sepsis with considerable effect. Such new understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease might lead to novel immunomodulato-ry strategies in the treatment of sepsis.