Inventors have used three cohorts of horses: a cohort consisting of healthy horses (n=20), a cohort consisting of horses hospitalized for colic without signs of sepsis until discharge (n=17) and horses hospitalized for colic with signs of sepsis (n=20). They performed western blot analysis and confirmed the presence of O-GlcNAc in the blood of the horses and showed that, that the O-GlcNAc levels in septic horses tended to decrease between admission and the first day (D1) after admission. This decrease became significant from the second day (D2) of hospitalization.
Accordingly, the invention relates to a method for diagnosing whether a horse is at risk of or is susceptible to have a risk of sepsis comprising following steps:
i) quantifying the expression level of O-GlcNAcylation in a biological sample obtained from the horse;
ii) comparing the expression level quantified at step i) with its predetermined reference value; and
iii) concluding that the horse is at risk of or is susceptible to have a risk of sepsis when the expression level of O-GlcNAcylation quantified at step i) is lower than its predetermined reference value.