Purpose: Accumulating evidence demonstrates that genetic susceptibility genes can be used as biomarkers to assess sepsis susceptibility, and genetic variation is associated with susceptibility and clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis and inflammatory disease. Although studies have shown that the lncRNA CCAT2  is involved in inflammatory diseases, it remains unclear whether CCAT2  gene polymorphisms are associated with susceptibility to inflammatory diseases, such as sepsis, in children.
Methods: We genotyped the rs6983267 CCAT2  polymorphism in 474 cases (pediatric sepsis) and 678 controls using TaqMan methods, and odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of associations.
Results: Our results indicate that the rs6983267 T > G polymorphism is significantly associated with an increased risk of sepsis in children (TG and TT: adjusted OR = 1.311, 95% CI = 1.016– 1.743, GG and TT: adjusted OR = 1.444, 95% CI = 1.025– 2.034 dominant model: GG/TG vs TT adjusted OR = 1.362, 95% CI = 1.055– 1.756). Furthermore, the risk effect was more pronounced in children younger than 60 months who were male and who had sepsis.
Conclusion: We found that the CCAT2  gene polymorphism rs6983267 T > G may be associated with an increased risk of pediatric sepsis in southern China. A larger multicenter study should be performed to confirm these results.
Keywords: lncRNA CCAT2 , sepsis, susceptibility, polymorphism