Journal of Leukocyte Biology Myeloid cells, immune suppression, tumor immunology
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

A more recent version of this article appeared on March 1, 2008

Published online before print January 2, 2008
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (Reprint (PDF))
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
jlb.0607380v1
83/3/471    most recent
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Marshall, J. C.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Marshall, J. C.
© by The Society for Leukocyte Biology
Journal of Leukocyte Biology, doi:10.1189/jlb.0607380

Received for publication June 9, 2007.
Revised October 18, 2007.
Accepted for publication October 23, 2007.

Article

Sepsis: rethinking the approach to clinical research

John C. Marshall @

Departments of Surgery and Critical Care Medicine and the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, St. Michael’s Hospital, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

@ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: marshallj{at}smh.toronto.on.ca.


  Abstract

The clinical syndrome of sepsis encompasses a highly heterogeneous group of clinical disorders, varying with respect to the site, bacteriology, and even presence of infection and with the clinical syndrome evolving in the host. Clinical trials of strategies to modulate the host response that mediates sepsis were first initiated 25 years ago. A continuing record of disappointment has characterized subsequent work, and only a single new therapy has been licensed for clinical use. Yet, these commercial disappointments obscure a vibrant body of new knowledge that has clarified the biology of the innate immune response whose deranged expression is responsible for sepsis and that has provided important new insights into the failings of the traditional model of clinical research in sepsis. This review highlights advances in basic biology and underlines insights from clinical research that may point to new and more effective ways of translating an understanding of innate immunity into effective treatments for a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality.

Key Words: innate immunity • translational research • clinical trials • Toll-like receptors • TNF






HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH
Copyright © 2008 by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.