Early and dynamic alterations of Th2/Th1 in previously immunocompetent patients with community-acquired severe sepsis: a prospective observational study

BACKGROUND: T helper (Th) cells regulate sepsis processes, including primary pathogen clear and secondary pathogen defence. The objectives of this study were to determine the early and dynamic alterations of Th1 and Th2 populations to community-acquired severe sepsis upon onset among previously immunocompetent patients and whether it was related to clinical outcomes. METHODS: This prospective observational cohort study was conducted at a general intensive care unit (ICU) of a tertiary teaching hospital in China. Immunocompetent patients with community-acquired severe sepsis within 24 h upon onset were included as septic group. Healthy volunteers and critically ill patients without severe sepsis were recruited as controls. Whole blood was collected on D0, 3rd day (D3) and 7th day (D7) for septic group and once upon enrollment for controls. Th1 and Th2 populations were measured by flow cytometry and assessed for associations with 28-day mortality using cox proportional hazard models. Associations of dynamic alterations of Th cell subpopulations with clinical outcomes were investigated. RESULTS: This study demonstrated that community-acquired severe sepsis patients (n = 71) had increased Th2/Th1 and Th2 populations, compared to healthy controls (n = 7) and critically ill patients without severe sepsis (n = 7) at admission. Among the septic cohort, values of Th2/Th1 were significantly higher in non-survivors than survivors on D0 (p = 0.04), D3 (p < 0.001) and D7 (p < 0.001). Patients with persistently increasing Th2/Th1 demonstrated the highest mortality (47.1%) and incidence of ICU-acquired infections (64.7%). CONCLUSIONS: Th2/Th1 was markedly up-regulated with Th2 dominance upon community-acquired severe sepsis onset among previously immunocompetent patients and its persistently dynamic increase was associated with ICU-acquired infections and 28-day death. Trial registration Institutional Ethics Committee of Zhongda Hospital, 2014ZDSYLL086, registered in June 2014-prospectively registered; ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02883218, registered on 25 Aug 2016-retrospectively registered, https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02883218?cond=NCT02883218&rank=1 ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12967-019-1811-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.