Case Control Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 16, 2023; 11(2): 342-356
Published online Jan 16, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i2.342
Microvesicles with mitochondrial content are increased in patients with sepsis and associated with inflammatory responses
Hai-Jun Zhang, Jin-Yi Li, Chao Wang, Guo-Qiang Zhong
Hai-Jun Zhang, Chao Wang, Guo-Qiang Zhong, Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Hai-Jun Zhang, Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Hengyang Medical School, University of South China, Hengyang 421000, Hunan Province, China
Jin-Yi Li, Department of Cardiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Guilin Medical University, Guilin 541000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China
Author contributions: Zhang HJ participated in the study design, collected the samples, performed the experiments, and drafted the manuscript; Li JY helped to carry out the MV number experiments and analyze the data; Wang C helped to collect the samples and modify the manuscript; Zhong GQ conceived the study, participated in the study design, and helped to modify the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study design was approved by the Ethics Committee of the First Affiliated Hospital of University of South China(protocol code 2020110323009).
Informed consent statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors declare no conflict of interest.
Data sharing statement: The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement—checklist of items.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Guo-Qiang Zhong, PhD, Professor, Department of Cardiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, No. 6 Shuangyong Road, Nanning 530000, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. gq_zhong620@126.com
Received: November 5, 2022
Peer-review started: November 5, 2022
First decision: November 22, 2022
Revised: December 3, 2022
Accepted: December 23, 2022
Article in press: December 23, 2022
Published online: January 16, 2023
Processing time: 67 Days and 23.2 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background

Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of infection that involves endothelial injury that contributes to multiple organ failure. Microvesicles (MVs), which can transfer nucleic acids, organelles and proteins to target cells, are recognized as important mediators in intercellular communication.

Research motivation

MVs carrying mitochondrial content (mitoMVs) have been implicated in several diseases. However, it is not clear whether mitoMVs are involved in sepsis.

Research objectives

To explore whether mitoMVs constitute a subset of MVs isolated from plasma of patients with sepsis and contribute to endothelial activation.

Research methods

Confocal microscopy and flow cytometry were used to characterize the presence of mitoMVs and their expression in plasma. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells were stimulated with circulating MVs to evaluate their effect on endothelial activation.

Research results

MVs isolated from patients with sepsis were rich in mitochondrial content and the levels of MVs and mitoMVs were significantly higher in patients with sepsis than in healthy controls. The number of mitoMVs was positively associated with tumour necrosis factor-α and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule 1. MitoMVs isolated from the plasma of patients with sepsis induced elevated expression of type-I-IFN-dependent genes in endothelial cells.

Research conclusions

MitoMVs were increased in the plasma of patients with sepsis and may activate the type I IFN signalling pathway in endothelial cells.

Research perspectives

MitoMVs may have potential as a novel interventional target for sepsis-induced endothelial injury.