Sepsis is a devastating disease that can affect humans at any time between neonates and the elderly and is associated with mortality rates that range from 30 to 80%. Despite intensive efforts, its treatment has remained the same over the last few decades. Fc receptors regulate multiple immune responses and have been investigated in diverse complex diseases. FcγRIIA (CD32A) is an immunoreceptor, tyrosine-based activation motif-bearing receptor that binds immunoglobulin G and C-reactive protein, important opsonins in host defense. We conducted a study of 702 patients (184 healthy individuals, 171 non-infected critically ill patients, and 347 sepsis patients) to investigate if genetic polymorphisms in the CD32A coding region affect the risk of septic shock. All individuals were genotyped for a variant at position 131 of the FcγRIIA gene. We found that allele G, associated with the R131 genotype, was significantly more frequent in septic patients than in the other groups (p = 0.05). Our data indicate that FcγRIIA genotyping can be used as a marker of genetic susceptibility to sepsis.
Keywords: biomarkers; critical care; genetic susceptibility; infection; inflammation.