Endothelial dysfunction and selenium status in children with acute systemic inflammatory response

• Grant number: 13/25801-6
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: July 01, 2014
• End date: June 30, 2016
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Maternal and Child Health
• Principal Investigator: Heitor Pons Leite
• Grantee: Heitor Pons Leite
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Emilio Lopes Junior ; Tulio Konstantyner

Abstract

Oxidative stress occurs during shock as a result of granulocytes and endothelial cell activation. Higher intensity of endothelial activation is associated with unfavorable outcomes. Selenium is an essential trace element that plays a key role in the antioxidant defenses and whose plasma concentrations have been low in critically ill patients. There are no clinical studies, especially in pediatric patients, that consider the roles of selenium and nutritional status in the modulation of endothelial adaptive response during the inflammatory response secondary to shock. We hypothesize that selenium deficiency is associated with changes in biological markers of endothelial dysfunction and that these changes, in turn, are associated with worse clinical prognosis. Objectives: 1) to investigate the association between selenium status and the endothelial activation in children during acute systemic inflammatory response, and 2) to investigate whether the intensity of endothelial activation can predict the clinical outcome in children with systemic inflammatory response. Methodology: prospective, observational study in children admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) with systemic inflammatory response. Patients will be classified into two groups according to the mean arterial pressure level in the first 24 hours of admission. The groups will be compared using anthropometric measures, plasma and erythrocyte selenium concentrations, GPx activity, selenoprotein P, intensity of endothelial activation, organ dysfunction, infectious complications and mortality. Biomarkers of endothelial activation (sE-selectin, sICAM-1 and sVCAM-1) will be assessed at three different time points: upon admission and on days 3 and 5 of ICU stay. Expected results: if the study hypotheses are correct, they may justify the analysis of biomarkers of endothelial activation in medical practice and in future studies assessing the benefits of selenium supplementation in critical illness. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DE ALMEIDA, CLAUDIA BEZERRA; LEITE, HEITOR PONS; LOPES JUNIOR, EMILIO; KONSTANTYNER, TULIO; FRANCO, MARIA DO CARMO PINHO. Erythrocyte and plasma selenium in children with acute inflammatory response. JOURNAL OF TRACE ELEMENTS IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY, v. 74, p. 7-pg., 2022-12-01. (13/25801-6)