Serum depletion of corticosteroid binding activities, an early marker of human septic shock

We report that human sera within 24 hours after the onset of septic shock are virtually depleted of the corticosteroid binding activities characteristic for transcortin. By contrast, transcortin activities are not changed significantly in cases of acute inflammation, though septic shock and inflammatory sera are comparable in other respects: they show similar responses of their haptoglobin, thyroxine binding prealbumin, endogenous cortisol and progesterone levels. The physiological meaning and clinical interest of these results are discussed.