Neopterin and procalcitonin are suitable biomarkers for exclusion of severe Plasmodium falciparum disease at the initial clinical assessment of travellers with imported malaria

• Published in: Malaria Journal
• Main Authors: te Witt René, van Wolfswinkel Marlies E, Petit Pieter L, van Hellemond Jaap J, Koelewijn Rob, van Belkum Alex, van Genderen Perry JJ
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: BMC 2010
• Subjects: Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine; RC955-962; Infectious and parasitic diseases; RC109-216; Arctic; Eia
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1186/1475-2875-9-255; https://doaj.org/article/c7549d42cb6f4a42923bf26e94944b96

Abstract Background Most clinicians in developed, non-malaria endemic countries have limited or no experience in making clinical assessments of malaria disease severity and subsequent decisions regarding the need for parenteral therapy or high-level monitoring in febrile patients with imported malaria. In the present study, the diagnostic accuracy of plasma soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid cells 1 (TREM-1), neopterin and procalcitonin levels as biomarkers for severe Plasmodium falciparum disease was evaluated in 104 travellers with imported malaria (26 patients with non- P. falciparum malaria, 64 patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria and 14 patients with severe P. falciparum malaria). Methods TREM-1, neopterin and procalcitonin were determined in serum using commercially available ELISA or EIA tests. The diagnostic performance of these biomarkers for severe disease was compared with plasma lactate, a well-validated parameter for disease severity in patients with malaria, as reference. Severe malaria was defined according to the modified WHO criteria. Results No significant differences in TREM-1 levels were detected between the different patient groups. Patients with severe P. falciparum malaria had significantly higher neopterin and procalcitonin levels on admission when compared to patients with uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria or non- P. falciparum malaria. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that neopterin had the highest Area-Under-the-ROC curve (AUROC 0.85) compared with plasma lactate (AUROC 0.80) and procalcitonin (AUROC 0.78). At a cut-off point of 10.0 ng/ml, neopterin had a positive and negative predictive value of 0.38 and 0.98 whereas procalcitonin, at a cut-off point of 0.9 ng/ml, had a positive and negative predictive value of 0.30 and 1.00. Conclusion Although the diagnostic value of neopterin and procalcitonin is limited, the high negative predictive value of both neopterin and procalcitonin may be helpful for a rapid exclusion of severe ...