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).