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Sepsis may have an Achilles heel that would allow for more effective treatment of the condition, according to research published in The FASEB Journal.
The study showed that CD39, an enzyme capable of clearing high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from the bloodstream, significantly improved survival of mice with severe sepsis.
Based on this finding, the researchers speculate that CD39 may also be used in other diseases associated with inflammation.
“Although we have come a long way in the treatment of sepsis since it was first described by Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, about 250,000 Americans still die from sepsis each year,” said study author Gyorgy Hasko, PhD, of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
“A drug that could cure patients with sepsis would not only save the lives of many, it would also decrease the enormous costs associated with treating septic patients in the intensive care unit and would help unburden the healthcare system.”
To make their discovery, Dr Hasko and his colleagues compared mice lacking the CD39 gene to wild-type mice. When sepsis was induced in both sets of mice, those without CD39 had worse survival.
With this information in hand, the researchers then performed another experiment with two more groups of normal mice that were septic.
The first group was injected with CD39 and the other with placebo. The mice that received CD39 had improved survival compared to those injected with placebo.
“Finding a more effective treatment for sepsis would be a major step forward since far too many people still die from overwhelming microbial infection,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “If CD39 proves to be as critical a factor in humans as in mice, this is a major discovery.” 
Sepsis may have an Achilles heel that would allow for more effective treatment of the condition, according to research published in The FASEB Journal.
The study showed that CD39, an enzyme capable of clearing high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from the bloodstream, significantly improved survival of mice with severe sepsis.
Based on this finding, the researchers speculate that CD39 may also be used in other diseases associated with inflammation.
“Although we have come a long way in the treatment of sepsis since it was first described by Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, about 250,000 Americans still die from sepsis each year,” said study author Gyorgy Hasko, PhD, of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
“A drug that could cure patients with sepsis would not only save the lives of many, it would also decrease the enormous costs associated with treating septic patients in the intensive care unit and would help unburden the healthcare system.”
To make their discovery, Dr Hasko and his colleagues compared mice lacking the CD39 gene to wild-type mice. When sepsis was induced in both sets of mice, those without CD39 had worse survival.
With this information in hand, the researchers then performed another experiment with two more groups of normal mice that were septic.
The first group was injected with CD39 and the other with placebo. The mice that received CD39 had improved survival compared to those injected with placebo.
“Finding a more effective treatment for sepsis would be a major step forward since far too many people still die from overwhelming microbial infection,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “If CD39 proves to be as critical a factor in humans as in mice, this is a major discovery.”
Sepsis may have an Achilles heel that would allow for more effective treatment of the condition, according to research published in The FASEB Journal.
The study showed that CD39, an enzyme capable of clearing high levels of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) from the bloodstream, significantly improved survival of mice with severe sepsis.
Based on this finding, the researchers speculate that CD39 may also be used in other diseases associated with inflammation.
“Although we have come a long way in the treatment of sepsis since it was first described by Hippocrates in the fourth century BC, about 250,000 Americans still die from sepsis each year,” said study author Gyorgy Hasko, PhD, of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School in Newark.
“A drug that could cure patients with sepsis would not only save the lives of many, it would also decrease the enormous costs associated with treating septic patients in the intensive care unit and would help unburden the healthcare system.”
To make their discovery, Dr Hasko and his colleagues compared mice lacking the CD39 gene to wild-type mice. When sepsis was induced in both sets of mice, those without CD39 had worse survival.
With this information in hand, the researchers then performed another experiment with two more groups of normal mice that were septic.
The first group was injected with CD39 and the other with placebo. The mice that received CD39 had improved survival compared to those injected with placebo.
“Finding a more effective treatment for sepsis would be a major step forward since far too many people still die from overwhelming microbial infection,” said Gerald Weissmann, MD, Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal. “If CD39 proves to be as critical a factor in humans as in mice, this is a major discovery.”