Respiratory medicine
October 8, 2026 · via Europe PMC
Association between complement de-escalation and prognosis in sepsis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
Wei X, Lu X, Liu X, Chen L, Jiang X, Tu Y, Wang Z.
AI summary — for doctors, generated from the abstract only
Falling complement activation after treatment in sepsis was linked to some inflammatory markers and severity scores, but not to mortality.
What was studied
Systematic review and meta-analysis (searches through June 2025) of 11 studies out of 7,694 articles retrieved, relating reduced complement activation after predefined treatments to mortality, inflammatory markers, APACHE II, creatinine and BUN.
Key findings
- IL-6 was lower (mean difference -196.83, 95% CI -329.16 to -64.49).
- There were no significant differences in WBC, creatinine or BUN levels.
- Mortality was not correlated with complement de-escalation.
Clinical relevance
It tempers expectations that complement-targeted approaches to sepsis would improve survival, though the data do not test a specific therapy.
Who should care
Limitations
Only 11 studies, heterogeneous treatments, and the abstract is truncated in the results (CRP and APACHE II numbers and some p values are missing).
Reduced complement activation tracked biomarkers and severity but not death in this analysis.
This is an AI-generated summary of the published abstract, not a clinical recommendation. It may not reflect the full text or subsequent updates — verify against the original source before acting on it.
Abstract
Background
Substantial evidence indicates that sepsis is accompanied by intense complement activation. This study aims to systematically evaluate the association between reduced complement activation levels and the prognosis in septic patients after treatment.
Methods
A meta-analysis was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA guidelines. The search databases included Web of Science, PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Embase, SinoMed, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and VIP Database. The search timeframe spanned from the inception of each database to June 2025. Included studies were required to report cases with further reductions in complement activation levels following predefined treatments, while concurrently recording mortality and other biochemical indicators. Subsequently, a meta-analysis assessed mortality, inflammatory biomarkers (WBC, CRP, and IL-6), APACHE II scores, and indicators reflecting renal function (SCr and BUN) levels.
Results
A total of 7,694 articles were retrieved, and 11 studies were ultimately included after screening. Although IL-6 (MD: -196.83; 95% CI: -329.16, -64.49; P 0.05). Additionally, there were no significant differences in WBC, SCr, and BUN levels.
Conclusion
The reduction in complement activation levels following treatment in septic patients is associated with disease severity scores and certain inflammatory biomarkers, but is not correlated with mortality.
DOI
10.1016/j.rmed.2026.109200
PMID
42849541
Research metadata (titles, abstracts, authors, publication dates) is sourced from Europe PMC, which aggregates content from PubMed/MEDLINE, PubMed Central, and other providers under the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM/NCBI). NLM does not claim copyright on abstracts; the original journal publishers or authors may hold rights to the full articles. AI-generated summaries are derived only from the abstract, never the full text, and are always labeled as AI-generated.
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