Sepsis is a
life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by dysregulated host responses to
infection. Despite decades of
research, it remains the leading
cause of death in
intensive care units (ICUs). None of the current
treatment, including
antibiotics, organ
protection and liquid
resuscitation, is specifically effective for
sepsis.
Immunosuppression is one of the currently accepted pathogenesis and
immunotherapy is one of the hot spot of current
sepsis research. Immune related
treatments include restricting the release of pathogen toxin and its removal, controlling the excessive inflammatory reaction and
apoptosis inhibition, etc. Numerous pre-clinical studies using
immunomodulatory agents such as
interleukin-7 (
IL-7), anti-
programmed cell death-1 (PD-1) antibody and others, have demonstrated reversal of
T cell dysfunction and improved
survival resulting from reviewing recent advances in
immunotherapy of
sepsis. Therefore,
immunotherapy may be a new way of
sepsis treatment.