The wingless‐related integration site‐5a/secreted frizzled‐related protein‐5 system is dysregulated in human sepsis

Summary Sepsis and type 2 diabetes exhibit insulin resistance as a common phenotype. In type 2 diabetes we and others have recently provided evidence that alterations of the proinflammatory wingless‐related integration site (wnt)‐5a/anti‐inflammatory secreted frizzled‐related protein (sFRP)‐5 system are involved in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether this novel cytokine system is dysregulated in human sepsis, which may indicate a potential mechanism linking inflammation to metabolism. In this single‐centre prospective observational study, critically ill adult septic patients were examined and proinflammatory wnt5a and wnt5a inhibitor sFRP5 were measured in serum samples by enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) at admission to the intensive care unit (ICU) and 5 days later. Sixty sepsis patients were included, and 30 healthy individuals served as controls. Wnt5a levels were found to be increased significantly in septic patients compared to healthy controls (2·21 ± 0·33 versus 0·32 ± 0·03 ng/ml, P