Soluble Urokinase Plasminogen Activator Receptor (suPAR) in Late-onset Neonatal Sepsis

• Levels of suPAR in late-onset neonatal sepsis [ Time Frame: three weeks ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Levels of suPAR will be dosed with suspicion of late-onset sepsis diagnosis at day 0 and at the end of the treatment. The evolution and the best cut-off values will be calculated for the diagnosis. Indices of sensibility, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value will be calculated.
  
  

• Level of plasma C-reactive protein [ Time Frame: three weeks ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  Plasma C-reactive protein levels to confirm the diagnostic usefulness of suPAR measurements at diagnosis and end of the treatment
  
  
• the white blood cell count [ Time Frame: three weeks ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  the white blood cell counts to confirm the diagnostic usefulness of suPAR measurements at diagnosis and end of the treatment
  
  

Infection is a leading cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. The clinical presentation of neonatal infection is subtle and nonspecific. Microbiologic cultures of clinical specimens, the gold standard for diagnosis, have low sensitivity and are not available in time to influence initial therapy. Therefore, reliable and rapid in vitro tests are needed for early diagnosis and management of infection in neonates. suPAR, secreted from the cells (neutrophils, lymphocytes, macrophages, endothelial cells) has recently been reported to be a potential biomarker for several infection diseases. The levels of suPAR have not been studied in newborn infants yet.