Abstract 1427 Using Outer Membrane Vesicles to Diagnosis Sepsis in Clinical Samples

Outer Membrane Vesicles (OMVs) are nanoscale, lipid-bound species released from Gram-negative bacteria. OMVs are derived from the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and therefore contain biomolecules, such as proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids from their parent cell. OMV production is known to increase in the presence of environmental stressors, such as changes in oxygen availability and the presence of antibiotics. Here, we describe our study, which seeks to detect OMVs in clinical plasma samples of Escherichia coli (E. coli) sepsis patients, provided by Dr. Anthony Pietropaoli (University of Rochester, Severe Systemic Inflammatory Response Syndrome Cohort Study). To isolate OMVs, we employed syringe filtering and ultracentrifugation, and to identify and detect OMVs, we employed immunoblotting with antibodies to several common E. coli antigens. Results from our preliminary work suggest that we are able to isolate and detect OMVs from sepsis patient biofluids. This work was supported by NIAID of the National Institutes of Health under award number R21AI163782 to LVM and TG.