HLA‐DR+ mucosal‐associated invariant T cells predict poor prognosis in patients with sepsis: A prospective observational study

Mucosal‐associated invariant T (MAIT) cells are important in antibacterial immune responses; however, during sepsis, they are few in number and exhibit highly activated phenotypes. The relationship between MAIT cells in peripheral blood and the prognosis of sepsis is not well understood. Thus, this study aimed to examine the levels and phenotypes of MAIT cells in early sepsis, evaluate their clinical relevance, and investigate their association with patient prognosis. This prospective observational study enrolled 72 septic patients defined according to the Sepsis 3.0 criteria and 21 healthy controls matched for age and sex. Their peripheral blood samples were used to assay the expression of immune activation (CD69 and HLA‐DR) and immune checkpoint (PD‐1 and PD‐L1) markers on MAIT cells. The systemic inflammatory response syndrome, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE) II, and sequential organ failure assessment scores were recorded. Subsequently, the association between MAIT cell characteristics and clinical indicators was assessed using Spearman's rank correlation analysis, and binary logistic regression analysis with a forward stepwise approach assessed independent risk factors for 28‐day mortality. We noted a decrease in the percentage of MAIT cells in the patients' peripheral blood, which exhibited an activated phenotype. Besides, HLA‐DR+ MAIT cell percentage and the APACHE II score were independently associated with the 28‐day mortality and, in combination, were the best indicators of mortality. Thus, the percentage of HLA‐DR+ MAIT cells in early sepsis serves as a novel prognostic biomarker for predicting mortality and improves the predictive capacity of the APACHE II score.