Outer Membrane Vesicle and Ferroptosis-Related Signatures in Sepsis-Associated Acute Lung Injury Caused by Extra-Pulmonary Hypervirulent Klebsiella Pneumoniae

Sepsis-associated acute lung injury is a major complication of severe extra-pulmonary Gram-negative bacterial infection. Hypervirulent Klebsiella pneumoniae (hvKP) is increasingly recognized as a cause of invasive infection with a high inflammatory burden and a propensity for metastatic spread. Bacterial outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) are biologically active nanoparticles that may transport lipopolysaccharide, virulence-associated molecules, and other inflammatory cargo to distant organs. Experimental evidence suggests that OMV-mediated oxidative stress and ferroptosis-related injury may contribute to pulmonary endothelial dysfunction and acute lung injury; however, the clinical relevance of these mechanisms in patients with extra-pulmonary hvKP sepsis remains unclear.

This prospective multicenter observational translational cohort study will investigate the relationship among molecularly characterized hvKP infection, circulating bacterial OMV-related signals, ferroptosis-related biomarker profiles, and the subsequent development of sepsis-associated acute lung injury. Adults with microbiologically confirmed extra-pulmonary Klebsiella pneumoniae sepsis will be enrolled early after sepsis recognition and followed during the acute phase of illness. Clinical isolates will undergo molecular characterization for prespecified hypervirulence-associated genes and additional strain-level features. Blood specimens collected during routine early follow-up will be processed using standardized procedures for plasma, serum, and peripheral blood mononuclear cell analyses.

The laboratory component will quantify circulating Gram-negative bacterial OMV-related signals in platelet-depleted plasma and evaluate systemic ferroptosis-related biomarker profiles, including lipid peroxidation products, glutathione redox status, iron-related indices, and ferroptosis-associated gene expression. Patient-derived Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates will also be cultured under standardized conditions for OMV isolation and characterization.

A nested translational substudy will compare OMVs derived from representative hvKP and classical Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates. Equal-particle-number OMV preparations will be applied to human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells to assess lipid peroxidation, ferroptosis-related molecular changes, endothelial barrier integrity, and the in vitro rescue effect of Ferrostatin-1. No investigational intervention will be administered to study participants, and all clinical management will remain at the discretion of the treating physicians.

Inclusion criteria

• Age 18-85 years .
• Clinical suspicion of infection with acute organ dysfunction consistent with suspected sepsis at the time of enrollment, as determined by the treating clinical team.
• Presumed extra-pulmonary source of infection at enrollment, including but not limited to hepatobiliary, urinary, intra-abdominal, skin and soft-tissue, vascular catheter-related, or primary bloodstream infection.
• Blood cultures and/or clinically indicated source cultures obtained or ordered as part of routine clinical care.
• Enrollment and first research blood collection completed within 6 hours after initiation of the clinical sepsis evaluation.
• No evidence of acute lung injury at the index time point, according to the protocol-defined criteria.
• Written informed consent obtained from the participant or legally authorized representative, unless an ethics-approved deferred-consent procedure is used.

Exclusion criteria

• Suspected or confirmed primary pulmonary infection at enrollment, including community-acquired pneumonia, hospital-acquired pneumonia, ventilator-associated pneumonia, or aspiration pneumonia.

Acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome present at the index time point.

• Acute cardiogenic pulmonary edema, acute decompensated heart failure, or another condition that would preclude reliable adjudication of subsequent non-cardiogenic acute lung injury.
• Recent inhalation injury, near-drowning, major thoracic trauma, or transfusion-related acute lung injury.
• Previous enrollment in this study.
• Inability to obtain informed consent from the participant or legally authorized representative when deferred-consent procedures are not permitted by the local ethics committee.