Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Jul 21, 2026 3 hours, 29 minutes ago
Medical News: Sepsis, a life-threatening condition caused by the body's overwhelming response to infection, remains one of the biggest challenges in intensive care medicine. During the COVID-19 pandemic, doctors questioned whether severe coronavirus infections triggered unique biological changes or whether the same processes seen in other forms of sepsis were responsible. A new study now suggests that one group of blood fats behaves almost identically in both conditions, pointing to disease severity rather than the virus itself as the driving force.
Researchers found that falling blood hexosylceramide levels reflect the severity of sepsis rather than being
unique to COVID-19
The research was conducted by scientists from the Department of Internal Medicine I, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology, Rheumatology and Infectious Diseases, University Hospital Regensburg, Germany, and the Institute of Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital Regensburg, Germany.
Tiny Blood Fats Reveal Important Changes
The researchers focused on molecules called hexosylceramides, naturally occurring fats that help cells function, communicate, and respond to inflammation. Although scientists know these molecules play important roles throughout the body, relatively little is understood about how they change during severe infections.
To investigate, the team analyzed blood samples from 159 patients with systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), sepsis, or septic shock, including 24 patients with COVID-19. They also examined blood samples from an additional 102 COVID-19 patients with either moderate or severe illness and compared the findings with healthy individuals.
Declines Began Early and Became More Pronounced
One of the clearest discoveries was that several important hexosylceramide species had already fallen sharply in patients experiencing early systemic inflammation. Three forms—HexCer18:1;O2/22:0, HexCer18:1;O2/23:0, and HexCer18:1;O2/24:0—were consistently much lower than in healthy volunteers.
As illness progressed into septic shock, two additional forms, HexCer18:1;O2/16:0 and HexCer18:1;O2/24:1, also declined. Overall hexosylceramide levels dropped as disease severity increased, suggesting these molecules closely reflect the body's worsening inflammatory state rather than the specific cause of infection. This
Medical News report highlights how these lipid changes may become valuable biological markers for understanding critical illness.
COVID-19 Was Not the Main Driver
Perhaps the most surprising finding was that COVID-19 itself did not produce a unique hexosylceramide signature.
When researchers directly compared patients with COVID-19-related septic shock and patients suffering septic shock from other infections, they found virtually no meaningful differences in most hexosylceramide levels. Even among patients requiring mechanical ventilation, the overall pattern remaine
d remarkably similar.
Instead, the researchers concluded that falling hexosylceramide levels were linked far more strongly to how sick the patient had become than to whether SARS-CoV-2 caused the infection. Patients with severe COVID-19 also showed lower levels than those with moderate disease, reinforcing the relationship between declining hexosylceramides and increasing illness severity.
Liver Disease Produced a Different Pattern
The team also explored whether liver cirrhosis influenced these blood fats. Interestingly, one hexosylceramide species, HexCer18:1;O2/24:1, was actually higher in patients with cirrhosis than in those without liver disease.
Although liver disease altered some lipid patterns, the overall reductions linked to sepsis still remained evident. This finding shows that underlying medical conditions can influence individual lipid species while leaving the broader relationship between hexosylceramides and severe infection intact.
Not Yet Ready as a Diagnostic Test
Although the lipid changes tracked disease severity, they did not predict survival. Patients who died had similar hexosylceramide levels to those who recovered, indicating these molecules alone cannot currently forecast patient outcomes.
The researchers also noted that while these lipid changes were more consistently associated with illness severity than common inflammatory markers such as C-reactive protein and procalcitonin, the differences were still too small for routine clinical diagnosis. Larger studies following patients over time will be needed to determine whether these molecules could eventually help doctors monitor disease progression or evaluate treatment responses.
Conclusion
The study provides compelling evidence that major reductions in several circulating hexosylceramide species occur early during severe inflammatory illness and continue as patients become critically ill. Importantly, these changes appear to reflect the severity of sepsis itself rather than being unique to COVID-19. While the findings are not yet ready for everyday hospital use, they offer valuable insight into how the body's lipid metabolism changes during life-threatening infections and may help guide future biomarker development and therapeutic research.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal: Biomedicines.
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/14/7/1635
For the latest COVID-19 news, keep on logging to Thailand
Medical News.
Read Also:
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/coronavirus
https://www.thailandmedical.news/articles/sepsis
Share
Tweet
Share
