The first large-scale natural history study of sepsis reveal, that even when the disease looks the same clinically, not all patents with sepsis have the same immune response. This study point out to the fact that the past interpretation of how the immune system responds to infection – interpretations on which many experimental treatments were based –to be incorrect.

Sepsis developes as a result of the body’s inflammatory response to an infection and can often lead to organ failure and death. Sepsis is the 10th most leading cause of death in America and this nearly 1 million people have developed the problem. Though there has been an increase in the number of cases each year the condition of the disease is still unknown. This study by the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine was published in the in the August 13/27 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh believe that these treatments failed, at least in part, because of insufficient data to fully understand the complexity and variability of the inflammatory response to sepsis.

To gain a better understanding into the mechanisms behind the condition, the researchers conducted the Genetic and Inflammatory Markers of Sepsis study (GenIMS), which collected extensive clinical and laboratory data geared to help analyze the risks of a person developing sepsis and dying. Data were collected from 2,320 subjects who came to hospital emergency rooms at 28 sites nationwide.