High serum laminin concentrations in patients with Candida sepsis

Background Laminin, a major component of the basement membrane, plays a cri tical role in normal cell adhesion and also during tissue invasion of patho genic microorganisms. Materials and methods Serum laminin concentrations were determined in 19 pa tients with Candida albicans sepsis, in 13 patients with bacterial sepsis a nd in 20 noninfectious controls. Results Serum laminin concentrations of both, patients with candidal and ba cterial sepsis, were significantly elevated compared to the controls (486 n g mL(-1) [155-924], median [range]; P < 0.01). Laminin concentrations were significantly higher in patients with Candida sepsis than in patients with bacterial sepsis on day 1 (2565 ng mL(-1) [659-6064] vs. 994 ng mL(-1) [386 -2064]; P < 0.01), day 7 (1594 ng mL(-1) [607-4611] vs. 684 ng mL(-1) [284- 1920]; P < 0.05) and day 14 (1444 ng mL(-1) [202-2131] vs. 386 ng mL(-1) [1 80-1658]; P < 0.05). Conclusions Laminin serum concentrations might be useful to differentiate n onbacterial, bacterial and fungal etiology.