Progress in circulating microRNAs as biomarkers of sepsis

Abstract Sepsis is as life-threatening organ failure caused by a dysregulated host response to infection, with urgent onset, complex mechanism and high mortality. Its early diagnosis and treatment is particularly important. However, the sensitivity and specificity of current laboratory markers for the diagnosis of sepsis is not ideal. MicroRNAs represent a novel group of small RNA molecules that do not encode for proteins. MicroRNAs are synthesized in the cytoplasm and transferred to circulation primarily by micro-vesicles, and they are stable in circulation and can be rapidly detected. The researches regarding circulating miRNA as biomarkers of sepsis were collected to analyze the characteristics of differential expression of miRNAs including miR-150, miR-133a, miR-122, miR-223, miR-4772, miR-297 and miR-574-5p etc. in the pathogenesis of sepsis, which suggest that they can be used as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of sepsis.