The Role of Antimicrobial Peptides in the Diagnosis of Sepsis

Sepsis is the most common cause of death in patients in intensive care units outside the coronary intensive care unit. Early diagnosis and treatment are the most important determinant of prognosis in a positive way, and biomarkers that are developed for the early diagnosis of sepsis are therefore of paramount importance to make necessary interventions and thus reduce mortality. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) criteria, which have been used for many years in the diagnosis of sepsis, have been found to be non-specific for the diagnosis of sepsis and SOFA score indicating organ dysfunction was found to be more useful in diagnosis. But this score, which contains many parameters, cannot facilitate diagnosis because of its long list. Nowadays, rapid and diagnostic tests are needed for the early diagnosis of sepsis. Biomarkers have become a focus of interest in the early diagnosis of sepsis because of their rapid results. In this context, antimicrobial peptides (AMP), which have been studied in recent years on biomarker properties, may be candidate tests in the diagnosis of sepsis. Antimicrobial peptides are important components of natural immunity that can be synthesized by many organisms from bacteria to mammals. These peptides, with broad spectrum microbiocidal activity against viruses, fungi, bacteria and parasites, are excreted in body fluids and inflammation-induced tissues. Antimicrobial peptides such as katelicidin, defensin, calprotectin, hepsidine and lactoferrin, which have been shown to increase synthesis during the sepsis process, are potential biomarkers for this disease. In this review, mechanisms of action and biomarker properties of various AMPs in sepsis process are examined