Prognostic Value of Soluble B7-H6 in Short-term Outcome Assessment of Patients with Sepsis

Objective This study aims to examine the correlation between soluble B7-H6 (sB7-H6) and disease severity as well as prognosis in patients with sepsis, and to assess its predictive value for 28-day short-term prognosis in these patients. Methods This single-center prospective observational study enrolled patients with sepsis admitted to the Department of Critical Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, from July 2023 to January 2024. The blood samples and clinical data of the patients were collected. Healthy volunteers were included as controls. An Elisa method was used to detect sB7-H6 levels in the peripheral blood of patients and controls on days 1, 3, and 7 post-admission. Spearman correlation coefficients were used to assess the correlations between sB7-H6, disease severity scores, and inflammatory markers. Multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed to identify independent risk factors for 28-day mortality. ROC curves were plotted to assess the predictive efficacy of sB7-H6 for 28-day mortality. K–M curves were used to compare the mortality differences. Results A total of 74 patients with sepsis who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were enrolled in the study. In these patients, the sB7-H6 levels on days 1, 3, and 7 were significantly higher than those in healthy volunteers. In the non-survival group, the sB7-H6 levels on days 1, 3, and 7 were significantly higher than those in the survival group. When grouped by SOFA and APACHE II scores, the sB7-H6 levels in the higher score groups at each time point were significantly higher than those in the lower score groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that sB7-H6 on day 1 was an independent risk factor for 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis. Spearman correlation analysis indicated that sB7-H6 on day 1 was positively correlated with the SOFA and APACHE II scores. Additionally, sB7-H6 levels on days 1, 3, and 7 were positively correlated with PCT. K–M curve analysis revealed that the mortality rate in the high sB7-H6 expression group was significantly higher than that in the low expression group at each time point. Conclusion The sB7-H6 levels are significantly elevated in patients with sepsis and are correlated with disease severity. Baseline (day 1) sB7-H6 is an independent risk factor for 28-day mortality in patients with sepsis and has good predictive value for short-term prognosis.