Table 1.

Comparative Transcriptomics in Cancer and Sepsis

	Cancer	Sepsis
Tissue	Tumor	Circulating leukocytes or leukocyte subpopulations
		Alternatively, cells that are the target of injury: endothelial cells, epithelial cells of lung or kidney
Comparator	Healthy tissue from same organ	Cells from healthy volunteers
		Alternatively, cells from critically ill patients without clinical manifestations of sepsis, or with these manifestations in the absence of infection
Outcome	Survival; recurrence	Survival
		Alternatively, progression of organ dysfunction, resolution of manifestations of infection
Clinical decision	Therapy targeting transcriptional alterations	In absence of effective mediator-targeted therapy, evaluate impact on response to fluids, vasopressors, duration of antimicrobial therapy