Although the median plasma IL-7 level shows a tendency to decrease on day 5 in non-surviving patients, this variation between day 1 and day 5 is not statistically significant for either survivors or non-survivors in both sepsis and septic shock groups, supporting the hypothesis that the IL-7 pathway remains largely intact and can be activated in sepsis, further strengthening the rationale for the exogenous administration of this lymphocyte growth factor in this clinical context [8]. The gene discussed is IL7; the disease is septic shock.