Objective This study aimed to evaluate the potential of hepatocyte-derived fibrinogen-related protein 1 (HFREP1) as a biomarker for community-acquired pneumonia and community-acquired pneumonia secondary to sepsis. Method This cross-sectional observational study included 124 patients with community-acquired pneumonia, 52 patients with community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis, and 123 healthy controls. Clinical data were collected, including procalcitonin and C-reactive protein levels. Serum HFREP1 concentrations were measured, and statistical analyses were performed. Result HFREP1 levels differed significantly among the healthy control, community-acquired pneumonia, and community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis groups (37.2 vs. 211.6 vs. 696.8 ng/mL). Binary logistic regression analysis identified procalcitonin and HFREP1 as independent predictors of community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis, while C-reactive protein was not an independent predictor. The area under the curve for HFREP1 in distinguishing community-acquired pneumonia patients from healthy controls was 0.8810. For differentiating community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis from community-acquired pneumonia, the area under the curves were 0.8814 for HFREP1, 0.8167 for C-reactive protein, and 0.8902 for procalcitonin. Conclusion HFREP1 may serve as a biomarker for community-acquired pneumonia and community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis. In community-acquired pneumonia–sepsis, HFREP1 was strongly correlated with C-reactive protein and procalcitonin, and its diagnostic performance was comparable to that of procalcitonin.
Wang et al. (Sun,) studied this question.