Elevated Plasma Soluble Sema4D/CD100 Levels Are Associated with Disease Severity in Patients of Hemorrhagic Fever with Renal Syndrome

BACKGROUND: Hantaan virus (HTNV) could cause a severe lethal hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) in humans. Despite a limited understanding of the pathogenesis of HFRS, the importance of host-related immune responses in the pathogenesis of HFRS has been widely recognized. CD100/Sema4D has been demonstrated to play an important role in physiological and pathological immune responses, but the functional role of CD100 in infectious diseases has only been inadequately reported. The aim of this study was to investigate the pathological significance of CD100 in patients after HTNV infection. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Blood samples were collected from 99 hospitalized patients in Tangdu Hospital and 27 health controls. The level of soluble CD100 (sCD100) in plasma were quantified by ELISA and the relationship between sCD100 and the disease course or severity were analyzed. The expressions of membrane CD100 on various subpopulations of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) were analyzed by flow cytometry. The results showed that sCD100 level in acute phase of HFRS was significantly higher in patients than that in healthy controls (P<0.0001) and the sCD100 level declined in convalescent phase. Multivariate model analysis showed that platelet count, white blood cell count, serum creatinine level and blood urea nitrogen level were associated with sCD100 levels and contributed independently to the elevated sCD100 levels. The expression of membrane CD100 on PBMCs decreased in the acute phase of HFRS patients compared with that of the normal controls and recovered in the convalescent phase. CONCLUSIONS: We reported the elevated level of plasma sCD100 in HFRS patients and the elevated level might be a result from the shedding of membrane CD100 on PBMC. The elevated level of sCD100 was associated with disease severity, suggesting that sCD100 might be a cause or a consequence of progression of HFRS. The underlying mechanisms should be explored further.