Wischmeyer PE, et al. - In adult surgical intensive care unit (SICU) patients, researchers examined the impact of the longitudinal change in serum eHSP70, eHSP27, and inflammatory cytokine levels on clinical outcomes (eg, pneumonia and mortality). In addition, they assessed the effect of parenteral nutrition (PN) supplemented with GLN (GLN-PN) vs GLN-free, standard PN (STD-PN) on serum eHSP70 and eHSP27 concentrations. To that end, they performed secondary observational analysis of a multicenter clinical trial that was conducted at 5 academic medical centers in 150 adults after cardiac, vascular, or gastrointestinal surgery requiring PN support and SICU care. In patient serum at baseline (prior to study PN) and over 28 days of follow up, serum eHSP70 and eHSP27, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and IL-8 concentrations were analyzed. Within 28 days of follow-up, eHSP70 declined in survivors over time, but non-survivors had significantly higher eHSP70 than survivors. Investigators found that eHSP70, eHSP27, IL-8, and IL-6 were significantly elevated in patients developing pneumonia. Over time, GLN-PN did not change serum concentrations of eHSP70 or eHSP27 vs STD-PN. Overall, they suggested that serum HSP70 concentration could be an important marker for severity of illness and the probability of recovery in the SICU. They discovered that eHSP70 was not increased by GLN-supplemented-PN.