Serum Pancreatic Stone Protein as a New Protein Biomarker for Late-onset Neonatal Sepsis

Abstract

Background: Neonatal sepsis is an important cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality worldwide. Early diagnosis is the cornerstone of management and favorable outcome. The wide variations of presenting signs of neonatal sepsis make reaching a diagnosis very challenging.Objectives: Our aim was to study serum pancreatic stone protein (PSP) in late-onset neonatal sepsis and its relation to the clinical score and C-reactive protein (CRP).Results: We found that the definite sepsis group had significantly higher PSP and CRP levels than the other two groups (p < 0.001). Moreover, the probable sepsis group had significantly higher PSP and CRP levels than controls (p < 0.001). The PSP had significant positive correlations with the clinical score (r=0.32, P =0.01) and CRP level (r=0.47, P =0.001). The PSP was more sensitive than both clinical score and CRP in detecting neonatal sepsis, as its sensitivity was 98.3% and a specificity of 100%.Conclusion: PSP is a valuable biomarker to detect late-onset neonatal sepsis. It is more sensitive than traditionally used acute phase reactant as CRP.