Abstract
The article aims to present the main biomarkers of pediatric sepsis and highlight their advantages in predicting outcomes for affected patients. As a secondary objective, it aims to demonstrate the Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model (PERSEVERE). This is a narrative review with a critical and analytical approach, focusing on the key concepts related to pediatric sepsis biomarkers. A review of articles was conducted using the Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) and PubMed databases, with the following Health Sciences Descriptors (DeCS): Biomarkers, Pediatrics, Sepsis. Mortality associated with sepsis remains a significant challenge for global pediatric public health. Reliably estimating the baseline risk of mortality in pediatric sepsis cases is an important form of prognostic enrichment. Prognostic enrichment is crucial for various areas, including clinical decision-making, efficient resource allocation, efforts to improve care quality, and research. Although several biomarkers have been evaluated to estimate the risk of adverse outcomes in sepsis, few have been rigorously validated to be adopted clinically as effective strategies for prognostic enrichment. The use of biomarkers to identify sepsis patients continues to be a widely recognized and important area of research. However, an equally relevant, albeit less emphasized, aspect is the discovery and development of biomarkers aimed at prognostic and predictive enrichment in sepsis patients. In recent years, this area has advanced significantly, especially in the pediatric context.
References
WEISS, S. L. et al. Surviving sepsis campaign international guidelines for the management of septic shock and sepsis-associated organ dysfunction in children. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, v. 21, p. e52–e106, 2020.
FERNANDEZ-CARBALLO, L.; ESCADAFAL, C.; MACLEAN, E.; KAPASI, A. J.; DITTRICH, S. Distinguishing bacterial versus non-bacterial causes of febrile illness - a systematic review of host biomarkers. Journal of Infection, v. 82, p. 1–10, 2021.
SWEENEY, T. E. et al. A comprehensive time-course-based multicohort analysis of sepsis and sterile inflammation reveals a robust diagnostic gene set. Science Translational Medicine, v. 7, p. 287ra271, 2015.
SWEENEY, T. E.; KHATRI, P. Comprehensive validation of the FAIM3:PLAC8 ratio in time-matched public gene expression data. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 192, p. 1260–1261, 2015.
ANDRES-TERRE, M. et al. Integrated, multi-cohort analysis identifies conserved transcriptional signatures across multiple respiratory viruses. Immunity, v. 43, p. 1199–1211, 2015.
SWEENEY, T. E.; WONG, H. R.; KHATRI, P. Robust classification of bacterial and viral infections via integrated host gene expression diagnostics. Science Translational Medicine, v. 8, p. 346ra391, 2016.
MAYHEW, M. B. et al. A generalizable 29-mRNA neural-network classifier for acute bacterial and viral infections. Nature Communications, v. 11, p. 1177, 2020.
DUCHARME, J. et al. A multi-mRNA host-response molecular blood test for the diagnosis and prognosis of acute infections and sepsis: proceedings from a clinical advisory panel. Journal of Personalized Medicine, v. 10, p. 266, 2020.
THAIR, S. et al. Gene expression-based diagnosis of infections in critically ill patients - prospective validation of the sepsis metascore in a longitudinal severe trauma cohort. Critical Care Medicine, 2021.
WEISS, S. L. et al. Global epidemiology of pediatric severe sepsis: the sepsis prevalence, outcomes, and therapies study. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 191, p. 1147, 2015.
FLEISCHMANN, C. et al. Global incidence and mortality of neonatal sepsis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Archives of Disease in Childhood, Online ahead of print, 2021.
RUDD, K. E. et al. Global, regional, and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990-2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. Lancet, v. 395, p. 200–211, 2020.
PRESCOTT, H. C.; CALFEE, C. S.; THOMPSON, B. T.; ANGUS, D. C.; LIU, V. X. Toward smarter lumping and smarter splitting: rethinking strategies for sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome clinical trial design. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 194, p. 147–155, 2016.
CONWAY, S. R.; WONG, H. R. Biomarker panels in critical care. Critical Care Clinics, v. 36, p. 89–104, 2020.
SAMPSON, D. et al. Blood transcriptomic discrimination of bacterial and viral infections in the emergency department: a multi-cohort observational validation study. BMC Medicine, v. 18, p. 185, 2020.
WONG, H. R. et al. The pediatric sepsis biomarker risk model. Critical Care, v. 16, p. R174, 2012.
WONG, H. R. et al. Testing the prognostic accuracy of the updated pediatric sepsis biomarker risk model. PLOS ONE, v. 9, e86242, 2014.
WONG, H. R. et al. Improved risk stratification in pediatric septic shock using both protein and mRNA biomarkers. PERSEVERE-XP. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 196, p. 494–501, 2017.
WONG, H. R. Pediatric sepsis biomarkers for prognostic and predictive enrichment. Pediatric Research, v. 91, n. 2, p. 283-288, 2022.
KAPLAN, J. M.; WONG, H. R. Biomarker discovery and development in pediatric critical care medicine. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, v. 12, p. 165–173, 2011.
WONG, H. R. et al. Prospective clinical testing and experimental validation of the Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model. Science Translational Medicine, v. 11, eaax9000, 2019.
WONG, H. R. et al. Biomarkers for estimating risk of hospital mortality and long-term quality-of-life morbidity after surviving pediatric septic shock: a secondary analysis of the Life After Pediatric Sepsis Evaluation investigation. Pediatric Critical Care Medicine, v. 22, p. 8–15, 2021.
SWEENEY, T. E. et al. A community approach to mortality prediction in sepsis via gene expression analysis. Nature Communications, v. 9, p. 694, 2018.
BANERJEE, S.; MOHAMMED, A.; WONG, H. R.; PALANIYAR, N.; KAMALESWARAN, R. Machine learning identifies complicated sepsis course and subsequent mortality based on 20 genes in peripheral blood immune cells at 24 h post-ICU admission. Frontiers in Immunology, v. 12, p. 592303, 2021.
MANRIQUE-CABALLERO, C. L.; DEL RIO-PERTUZ, G.; GOMEZ, H. Sepsis-associated acute kidney injury. Critical Care Clinics, v. 37, p. 279–301, 2021.
STANSKI, N. L. et al. Severe acute kidney injury is independently associated with mortality in children with septic shock. Intensive Care Medicine, v. 46, p. 1050–1051, 2020.
STANSKI, N. L. et al. PERSEVERE biomarkers predict severe acute kidney injury and renal recovery in pediatric septic shock. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 201, p. 848–855, 2020.
JACOBS, L. et al. The Pediatric Sepsis Biomarker Risk Model (PERSEVERE) biomarkers predict clinical deterioration and mortality in immunocompromised children evaluated for infection. Scientific Reports, v. 9, p. 424, 2019.
DEMERLE, K. M. et al. Sepsis subclasses: a framework for development and interpretation. Critical Care Medicine, v. 49, p. 748–759, 2021.
DAVENPORT, E. E. et al. Genomic landscape of the individual host response and outcomes in sepsis: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, v. 4, p. 259–271, 2016.
BURNHAM, K. L. et al. Shared and distinct aspects of the sepsis transcriptomic response to fecal peritonitis and pneumonia. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, v. 196, p. 328–339, 2017.
SCICLUNA, B. P. et al. Classification of patients with sepsis according to blood genomic endotype: a prospective cohort study. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, v. 5, p. 816–826, 2017.
SWEENEY, T. E. et al. Unsupervised analysis of transcriptomics in bacterial sepsis across multiple datasets reveals three robust clusters. Critical Care Medicine, v. 46, p. 915–925, 2018.
IGLESIAS, J. et al. A 33-mRNA classifier is able to produce inflammopathic, adaptive, and coagulopathic endotypes with prognostic significance: the Outcomes of Metabolic Resuscitation Using Ascorbic Acid, Thiamine, and Glucocorticoids in the Early Treatment of Sepsis (ORANGES) Trial. Journal of Personalized Medicine, v. 11, p. 9, 2020.
SWEENEY, T. E. et al. Validation of inflammopathic, adaptive, and coagulopathic sepsis endotypes in coronavirus disease 2019. Critical Care Medicine, v. 49, p. e170–e178, 2021.
HUTCHINS, N. A.; UNSINGER, J.; HOTCHKISS, R. S.; AYALA, A. The new normal: immunomodulatory agents against sepsis immune suppression. Trends in Molecular Medicine, v. 20, p. 224–233, 2014.
WONG, H. R.; SWEENEY, T. E.; HART, K. W.; KHATRI, P.; LINSELL, C. J. Pediatric sepsis endotypes among adults with sepsis. Critical Care Medicine, v. 45, p. e1289–e1291, 2017.
HOTCHKISS, R. S.; MONNERET, G.; PAYEN, D. Sepsis-induced immunosuppression: from cellular dysfunctions to immunotherapy. Nature Reviews Immunology, v. 13, p. 862–874, 2013.
HUTCHINS, N. A.; UNSINGER, J.; HOTCHKISS, R. S.; AYALA, A. The new normal: immunomodulatory agents against sepsis immune suppression. Trends in Molecular Medicine, v. 20, p. 224–233, 2014.
VENKATESH, B.; COHEN, J. Hydrocortisone in vasodilatory shock. Critical Care Clinics, v. 35, p. 263–275, 2019.
ANNANE, D. et al. Hydrocortisone plus fludrocortisone for adults with septic shock. New England Journal of Medicine, v. 378, p. 809–818, 2018.
VENKATESH, B. et al. Adjunctive glucocorticoid therapy in patients with septic shock. New England Journal of Medicine, v. 378, p. 797–808, 2018.
ANTCLIFFE, D. B.; GORDON, A. C. Why understanding sepsis endotypes is important for steroid trials in septic shock. Critical Care Medicine, v. 47, p. 1782–1784, 2019.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Luiz Felipe Neves Frazão, Isadora Ribeiro Schettert, Luca Moreira Mansur Zambaldi, Gabriel Ramos Muniz Braga , Ana Beatriz Martins de Lima , Mateus dos Santos Ribeiro , Sthefan Bruno Machado Ribeiro, Felipe de Figueiredo Zaccara, Bárbara Helena Bernardes Cabral, Murilo Zupelli Rodrigues Alves