ATG5 and Sepsis: Our results showed that the ATG5 and ATG16L1 expression levels in the sepsis cases were significantly reduced relative to the controls (P < 0.001; Fig. 3A,B), and it is worth nothing that the ATG5 and ATG16L1 mRNA expression levels decreased significantly with the aggravation of sepsis (P < 0.05; Fig. 3C,D).