Identification of plasma extracellular vesicle biomarkers after burn injury

Severe burn injury is a one of the most devastating forms of trauma with over 1.1 million burns each year requiring medical attention in the United States. Deaths from burn injury are commonly caused by immune-related sequelae such as pneumonia, organ failure and other opportunistic bacterial infections. Though there have been numerous studies to assess the immunological dysfunction associated with burn injury, there have yet to be a predictive biomarker, that can be used to assess high risk patients and their outcomes. We hypothesized that circulating extracellular vesicles (EVs) released early after burn injury would promote activate peripheral macrophages and specific cargo could be used as a biomarker to identify at-risk patients. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the immune consequences of adoptive transfer of EVs isolated after burn injury in vitro and used unbiased proteomic on EVs from mouse models and human burn patients from the UNC Jaycee Burn Center. Findings here suggest EVs serve as mediators of immune dysfunction and potential biomarkers.