HLX and Sepsis: To validate the expression changes of lncRNAs and mRNAs in pediatric sepsis detected by microarray, the 4 lncRNAs (lncRNA lnc-RP11-1220 K2.2.1–7, lncRNA lnc-ANXA3–2, lncRNA lnc-TRAPPC5–1, lncRNA lnc-ZNF638–1) and 4 co-expressed mRNAs (CXCR1, CLEC4D, DYSF, HLX) in the co-expression network (see Fig. 4) were further selected for qPCR validation using the remaining portion of microarray samples.