The Serum Profile of Hypercytokinemia Factors Identified in H7N9-Infected Patients can Predict Fatal Outcomes

The novel avian origin influenza A (H7N9) virus has caused severe diseases in humans in eastern China since the spring of 2013. Fatal outcomes of H7N9 infections are often attributed to the severe pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). There is urgent need to discover biomarkers predicting the progression of disease and fatal outcome of potentially lethal flu infections, based on sound statistical analysis. We discovered that 34 of the 48 cytokines and chemokines examined in this study were significantly elevated in the plasma samples from patients infected with H7N9. We report for the first time that the levels of MIF, SCF, MCP-1, HGF and SCGF-β are highly positively linked to disease severity and the profile of mediators MIF, SCF, MCP-1, HGF, SCGF-β, IP-10, IL-18 and IFN-γ is an independent outcome predictor.