Relationship between the activation of NF-κB in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and sequential organ failure assessment scores in severely ill patients

Objective To observe the changes of nuclear factor Kappa B(NF-κB) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC)and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA)scores in severely ill patients,and to study the role of NF-κB in estimating the state of illness and predicting outcome.Methods Forty patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) were in the trial group,and 20 healthy people were in the control group.Forty patients were divided into multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS)group and non-MODS group according to the MODS diagnostic criterion,and they also were followed-up for 28 days and then assigned to the group of survivors and non-survivors,respectively.The activations of NF-κB in PBMC were measured by immunohistochemical method,and SOFA scores were calculated.Result The activation of NF-κB in severely ill patients was higher than that in control group(P0.01).The activation of NF-κB and SOFA scores in the MODS group and the non-survivors group were higher than those in non-MODS group and the survivors group (P0.01).There were evidently positive correlations between the activations of NF-κB and the SOFA scores(r=0.902,P0.01).Conclusions Measurement of the activation of NF-κB in PBMC can be used to evaluate the progress and prognosis of severely ill patients during ICU stay.