Introduction: There are very few strategies for the early detection of the patients who might develop the severe form of the illness.
Objective: To evaluate the utility of serum levels of some immune response mediators as early biomarkers for the severe dengue prognosis during the early phase of the illness.
Materials and methods: Using a case-control design nested in a multicenter cohort from the AEDES network (a Colombian multicenter study), we compared TNF a, ST2, TRAIL and IDO levels in samples which were obtained during the early phase of the illness.
Results: ST2, TRAIL and TNF a levels were higher in severe dengue patients compared with uncomplicated patients (p<0.0001), as follows: OR=24.8, CI95%= 6.1- 98.0; OR=18.0, CI95%= 4.6-69.1; OR=NC, CI95%= NC, respectively. We did not find statistically significant differences between IDO levels in severe dengue and uncomplicated dengue (p=1.000, OR=1.0, CI95%= 0.2-6.1).
Conclusions: In the early phase of the dengue infection (96 hours), ST2, TRAIL and TNF a quantifications could contribute to the prediction of complications of the illness.