Quantification curves for succinate (A) and lactate (B), and Receiving
Operator Characteristic (ROC, C and D, respectively) determined upon
correlation to mortality in a cohort of 95 critically injured patients enrolled
at the Denver Health – University of Colorado Hospitals (595 samples
were assayed). Plasma succinate and lactate levels higher than 23.3 uM and 4.99
mM were good predictors of mortality in the tested cohort. Quantification
of matched succinate (E) and lactate (F) in the last available time point
before death or discharge from the hospital. String plot (right
panel) shows the correlation between mortality and low/high levels of succinate
and lactate (top and bottom, respectively) in the tested cohort. String
thickness is proportional to the fold changes vs median value of the tested
metabolite across the whole population, clearly indicating significantly higher
increases in succinate in patients with poor outcome in comparison to the
survivors.