• Femke Stephan, Jan A Hazelzet, Ingrid Bulder, Marja A Boermeester, Jw Olivier van Till, Tom van der Poll, Walter A Wuillemin, Lucien A Aarden, and Sacha Zeerleder.
• Department of Immunopathology, Sanquin Research at CLB and Landsteiner Laboratory of AMC, Plesmanlaan 125, 1066 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• Crit Care. 2011 Jan 1;15(2):R110.

IntroductionCell death is a central event in the pathogenesis of sepsis and is reflected by circulating nucleosomes. Circulating nucleosomes were suggested to play an important role in inflammation and were demonstrated to correlate with severity and outcome in sepsis patients. We recently showed that plasma can release nucleosomes from late apoptotic cells. Factor VII-activating protease (FSAP) was identified to be the plasma serine protease responsible for nucleosome release. The aim of this study was to investigate FSAP activation in patients suffering from various inflammatory diseases of increasing severity.MethodsWe developed ELISAs to measure FSAP-C1-inhibitor and FSAP-α2-antiplasmin complexes in plasma. FSAP-inhibitor complexes were measured in the plasma of 20 adult patients undergoing transhiatal esophagectomy, 32 adult patients suffering from severe sepsis and 8 from septic shock and 38 children suffering from meningococcal sepsis.ResultsWe demonstrate plasma FSAP to be activated upon contact with apoptotic and necrotic cells by an assay detecting complexes between FSAP and its target serpins α2-antiplasmin and C1-inhibitor, respectively. By means of that assay we demonstrate FSAP activation in post-surgery patients, patients suffering from severe sepsis, septic shock and meningococcal sepsis. Levels of FSAP-inhibitor complexes correlate with nucleosome levels and correlate with severity and mortality in these patients.ConclusionsThese results suggest FSAP activation to be a sensor for cell death in the circulation and that FSAP activation in sepsis might be involved in nucleosome release, thereby contributing to lethality.

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