Biomarkers of Inflammation, Coagulation, and Gut Barrier

Blood was stored at −80°C and batched until processing without prior thaw. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay assays were performed to measure markers of systemic inflammation (soluble tumor necrosis factor receptors I and II, high sensitivity C-reactive protein [hsCRP], interleukin 6 [IL-6] [R &D Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota]), coagulation:d-dimer (Diagnostica Stago, Parsippany, New Jersey), and oxidized low-density lipoprotein assays (Uppsala, Mercodia, Sweden), as well as markers of monocyte activation soluble CD14 and CD163 (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota).^{[20 (link)–23 (link)]} The soluble intercellular adhesion molecule 1 was measured by Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (R&D Systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota).^{[24 (link)]} A marker of gut permeability: zonulin-1 (Promocell Germany), a marker of microbial translocation (Levels of lipopolysaccharide-binding protein [LBP, Hycult Biotech Inc. Pennsylvenia]), and a marker of fungal translocation β-D-glucan (Mybiosource Inc. California) were measured to assess gut-barrier integrity.^{[25 (link)–27 (link)]}