CHANGES IN ALPHA-DEFENSIN AS AN INFLAMMATORY MARKER DURING NEONATAL SEPSIS IN TERM AND PRETERM INFANTS

Authors:

Abstract:

Neonatal sepsis remains one of the most important causes of infectious morbidity in newborns, especially among infants born prematurely. The study evaluated alpha-defensin as an inflammatory marker in 130 newborns, including term and preterm infants with sepsis and healthy newborns in the control group. The concentration of alpha-defensin was markedly higher in septic newborns than in healthy infants and decreased during repeated assessment, reflecting attenuation of the inflammatory process. In term infants with sepsis, alpha-defensin exceeded control values by more than fifteenfold, and a similar increase was observed in preterm infants with both early and late disease onset. Positive associations with interleukin-6 and interleukin-8 indicate that alpha-defensin reflects activation of innate immune mechanisms. The findings support the use of alpha-defensin as an additional laboratory marker for assessing the severity of inflammation and immune status in neonatal sepsis.

Keywords:

neonatal sepsis alpha-defensin innate immunity inflammatory markers preterm infants term infants

References:

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Publication:

«World of Medicine and Biology» Vol. 22 No. 96 (2026) , с. 107-110
УДК 616.94-053.31:577.112.6:612.017.1

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.26724/2079-8334-2026-2-96-107-110