Grant: Travel Awards - Institute Community Support

1 in 18 Canadians die each year due to severe infections known as sepsis. One of the challenges in treating sepsis is that there are currently no specific therapies for this condition. My research supervisor's laboratory has shown that patients' levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, or "good cholesterol", drop quickly during sepsis. Patients' with a greater decline in HDL are more likely to die or suffer from serious organ failure. However, it is unknown is what controls the drop in HDL during sepsis. My project is aimed at exploring whether genetic differences between people can explain how HDL levels influence infectious diseases. I have compared the DNA of patients that survived sepsis compared to those that did not. I also compared the DNA of people that were hospitalized for an infection compared to those that remained infection-free. We show that patients with a genetic explanation for low levels of HDL are more likely to die from sepsis and more likely to be hospitalized for an infection. This work is important for several reasons. Firstly, this work could lead to "personalized medicine" approaches to infections, by providing information about which patients are at greater risk for developing an infection based on their genetics. Secondly, this project may lead to new ways to treat severe infections by increasing HDL levels. Ultimately this work aims to lower the burden of death from severe infections among Canadians