Yan HP, et al. - In children with sepsis, researchers examined the value of plasma mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) for early diagnosis and prognosis by analyzing data of 123 children with sepsis who were hospitalized in the Hunan Children’s Hospital pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) from July 2013 to December 2014. They found that plasma mtDNA levels were higher among subjects with elevated alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, blood urea nitrogen, creatinine, lactate dehydrogenase, creatine kinase, myoglobin, creatine kinase MB, and troponin than in those with values within the normal range. According to this case control study, plasma mtDNA levels might be a suitable biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis in children with sepsis.