Use of soluble cytokeratin-1-fragments in diagnostics and therapy

A method for diagnosis of systemic inflammation and/or systemic infection in an animal or patient, comprising testing a biological sample from said animal or patient for the presence of a soluble cytokeratin 1 fragment or soluble cytokeratin 1 fragments, wherein the soluble cytokeratin 1 fragment consists of the amino acid sequence of amino acids 151–510 of the complete amino acid sequence of cytokeratin 1 (SEQ ID NO:

• 3) or the soluble cytokeratin 1 fragment has a molecular weight, as determined by gel electrophoresis of, 15,700±500 Dalton, has an amino acid sequence comprising amino acids 185–297 (SEQ ID NO:
• 5) of the complete amino acid sequence of cytokeratin 1 (SEQ ID NO:
• 3) and one or more additional amino acids at one or both ends of SEQ ID NO:
• 5 for a total of up to 20 adjacent amino acids of the complete amino acid sequence of cytokeratin 1 and wherein the presence of said fragment or fragments is indicative of the presence of sepsis, sepsis-like systemic inflammation and/or infection.