Patent ID: 8236496

Claim:
A method for classifying patients suffering from infectious and non-infectious multiple organ failure, respectively, comprising the following steps: (a) isolation of mRNA from a patient sample; (b) labeling the mRNA with a detectable unit; (c) contacting the labeled mRNA at least two with gene activity markers, said gene activity markers being polynucleotides selected from the group consisting of SEQ ID NO: 1 to 9, or partial sequences thereof having at least 20 nucleotides in length, immobilized on a microarray, so that the individual gene activity markers are separated from each other even after the contacting step; (d) washing of the hybridized gene activity markers to remove excess labeled mRNA; (e) stimulating the detectable unit so as to emit a signal; (f) reading out the hybridization signals for each of the individual gene activity markers and comparing them with a reference sample of a healthy patient, wherein an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 1 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 3 or an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 2 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 4 indicates the classification “no infection and without multiple organ failure”; an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 3 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 6 or an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 4 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 5 indicates the classification “non-infectious organ failure”; and an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 5 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 7 or an overexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 8 and an underexpression of mRNA corresponding to SEQ ID NO: 9 indicates the classification “infectious multiple organ failure”.