Li J, et al. - Researchers here determined the expression of plasma sCD138, a soluble component shedding from the glycocalyx (GCX) to the circulating blood, and evaluated its predictive value on disease severity and prognosis of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS). Observations from this study suggested that the levels of sCD138 in the moderate-, severe- and critical-type patients during the acute stage were significantly higher than that of the convalescent stage and the control, while the expression of sCD138 demonstrated no significant difference among the three types, which indicates that high levels of sCD138 could reflect the shedding of glycocalyx under systemic inflammatory response to a degree, which was similar with the patients with severe sepsis and septic shock. Thereby indicating that among the patients with HFRS, dynamic detection of plasma sCD138 could be a benefit to evaluating the disease severity and prognosis.