Quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Measurement of HLA-DRA Gene Expression in Whole Blood Is Highly Reproducible and Shows Changes That Reflect Dynamic Shifts in Monocyte Surface HLA-DR Expression during the Course of Sepsis

IntroductionA decrease in the expression of monocyte surface protein HLA-DR (mHLA-DR), measured by flow cytometry (FCM), has been suggested as a marker of immunosuppression and negative outcome in severe sepsis. However, FCM is not always available due to sample preparation that limits its use to laboratory operational hours. In this prospective study we evaluated dynamic changes in mHLA-DR expression during sepsis in relation to changes in HLA-DRA gene expression and Class II transactivator (CIITA), measured by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR).AimsThe aims of this study were: 1. to validate the robustness of qRT-PCR measurement of HLA-DRA- and CIITA–mRNA expression, in terms of reproducibility; and 2. to see if changes in expression of these genes reflect changes in mHLA-DR expression during the course of severe and non-severe bacteraemic sepsis.Methods and FindingsBlood samples were collected from 60 patients with bacteraemic sepsis on up to five occasions during Days 1–28 after hospital admission. We found the reproducibility of the qRT-PCR method to be high by demonstrating low threshold variations (HLA-DRA expression patterns during the course of sepsis that reflected those of mHLA-DR measured by FCM. Furthermore, HLA-DRA and mHLA-DR recovery slopes in patients with non-severe sepsis differed from those in patients with severe sepsis, shown by mixed model for repeated measurements (pHLA-DRA 0.40 (0.28–0.59) pCIITA 0.48 (0.32–0.72) p = 0.005, mHLA-DR 0.63 (0.45–1.00) p = 0.04, day 7 HLA-DRA 0.59 (0.46–0.77) pCIITA 0.56 (0.41–0.76) pConclusionWe conclude that qRT-PCR measurement of HLA-DRA expression is robust, and that this method appears to be preferable to FCM in identifying patients with severe sepsis that may benefit from immunostimulation.