Linoleic acid levels in patient peripheral blood cells may serve as a biomarker of acute scrub typhus

Abstract

Scrub typhus (ST) is an acute febrile illness in human caused by obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium Orientia tsutsugamushi (OT). OT exploits white blood cells during infection. Previous studies in mouse models showed that OT infection alter host lipid metabolism. Therefore, current study was focused to investigate the changes in the fatty acid profile in peripheral blood cells (PBC) from acute ST patients in response to OT infection to determine its potential to serve as a disease biomarker. OT infection was confirmed by diagnostic PCR (n= 17). Venous blood ( 2.5 mL) was collected into EDTA tubes from each subject with informed consent, PBC were separated, and cellular fatty acids were extracted. Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) were prepared and analyzed by a gas chromatograph equipped with column RtxR-WAX and flame ionization detector.