In summary, these analyses of the GSE65682 patient cohort demonstrate that higher expression levels of key DDR components (PRKDC, XRCC5, XRCC6) individually, as well as elevated overall DDR pathway activity (assessed via ssGSEA) in peripheral blood upon ICU admission, are significant indicators of poor 28-day prognosis in sepsis patients (Figure 6C-H). Here, XRCC5 is linked to Sepsis.