The Use of Biomarkers in Predicting Dengue Outcome

The burden of dengue infection has increased due to the current non-specific classification. A pilot study was conducted to evaluate the five of the biomarkers: neopterin, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), thrombomodulin, Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (VCAM-1) and pentraxin 3 (PTX-3). VEGF and PTX-3 was the only two potential biomarkers in differentiating severe dengue from non-severe dengue cases. The analysis between severe dengue and non-severe dengue cases indicated that only VEGF was able to discriminate the two categories. Though VCAM-1 and PTX-3 were not statistically significant, the p-values were at the margin of the pre-determined p-value of less than 0.05.

Hence, this study aims to evaluate VEGF and PTX-3 levels in differentiating severe dengue from non-severe dengue cases. The secondary objective is to evaluate the correlation of VEGF and PTX-3 levels with full blood count (platelet, white blood cell count and haematocrit) and liver function test (alanine aminotransferase and aspartate).

This is a prospective cohort study in which the patient will be followed up from the day of presentation to the attending practitioner until the patient is discharged. The blood samples will be obtained daily during the follow-up. The demography and clinical final diagnosis will be obtained from the medical record of the patient.

This study will aid triaging of dengue cases thereby reducing the need of unnecessary admission and better focused management to those might develop complication of dengue infection. This in turn reduces the workload and cost of the treating the dengue infection.