Increased whole blood FFA2/GPR43 receptor expression is associated with increased 30-day survival in patients with sepsis

OBJECTIVE: Sepsis is a condition associated with a dysregulated inflammatory response to infection with significant morbidity. Recent advances have elucidated the vital role that the short chain fatty acid glycoprotein receptor 43 (FFA2/GPR43) plays in inflammatory and immunomodulatory pathways. We hypothesized that elevated whole blood GPR43 RNA expression would be associated with increased 30-day survival in patients admitted with sepsis. Patients (n = 93) admitted to the intensive care unit with the diagnosis of sepsis underwent quantitative real time PCR within 48 h of intensive care unit admission. Clinical and demographical parameters were retrospectively extracted from the chart and compared to quantitative measurements of GPR43 RNA expression. RESULTS: Utilizing logistic regression, we found that the odds of mortality decreased for every one-unit increase in GPR43 RNA expression for patients that survived to 30 days [OR = 0.71; 95% CI (0.50, 0.99) p = 0.049]. Using linear regression, we determined that the increase in whole blood GPR43 expression was not associated with whole blood white cell count [r = 0.04; 95% CI (−0.16, 0.24); p = 0.70] or body mass index [r = − 0.07; 95% CI (− 0.23, 0.18); p = 0.81]. We conclude that the GPR43 receptor plays an integral role in survival during and after sepsis.