Patient characteristic
Patients with sepsis were recruited and the study was approved by the human ethics committee of Changhai Hospital (CHEC2019-133), as preliminary trial of sepsis treatment(CTR20191855), informed consent from all of the subjects or their relatives was obtained before enrollment. 65 patients suffering from sepsis were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) in Shanghai Changhai Hospital from January to October 2020, meanwhile 13 healthy volunteers, gender, age and ethnicity was the same, as the control group were recruited. The sepsis diagnostic criteria according to the definitions for sepsis and septic shock established by The Third International Consensus (Sepsis-3)[20]. Eligibility criteria for enrollment in this study included the sepsis patients of either sex by age 18–80 years with systolic blood pressure <80 mmHg, presenting within 8 h of sepsis after taking proper consent from the patient or relatives. The severity of the patients was assessed by Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation score (APACHE Ⅱ) and the extent of development of organ dysfunction was assessed by the Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (SOFA; range, 0–24). Exclusion criteria included: 1. age <18 years; 2. severe acute head injury (GCS score <5); 3.irresuscitable terminal stage at presentation; 4. autoimmune disease (such as rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, asthma, or multiple sclerosis); 5. AIDS; 6. acute stroke, myocardial infarction or recent viral hepatitis;7.use of hormones or immunosuppressors within the past 3 months before hospitalization;8.transplant surgery;9.unexpected termination of CBP treatment;10.Patients who resuscitated with anti-inflammatory drugs or corticosteroids; 11. septic patients, of whom blood sampling was not taken within the first 8 h after definition sepsis.